The Frozen Heart of a Frozen King
by DragonWilliams
Summary: Loki is banished to Jotunheim for his crimes. A year has passed and nothing has been heard of the exiled prince. There are unusual things happening in the land of the Frost Giants and there are rumours of a new and terrifying king who has the whole of Asgard scared. Odin sends Thor to ask the Avengers for help. What's happened on Jotunheim and to Loki? [ON HIATUS]
1. Journey's Beginning

**Not mine.**

**A/N:** Another WIP by me. Not sure how well it will go down but we'll see. I hope you enjoy. If you don't sorry. I might edit it later in the day.

**The Frozen Heart of a Frozen King**

**Chapter 1: Journey's Beginning **

* * *

"You will be sent to Jotunheim as punishment for your crimes-"

"What!" Loki yelped as he stood in the golden halls.

"You will learn!" Odin boomed.

"I will die!" Loki pleaded. He wasn't bothering to hide his fear.

"Enough!" Odin boomed yet again, his voice echoing through the giant room.

Odin walked off of his throne and walked past Loki waving to a guard. Two guards came and dragged Loki behind Odin.

They made their way to the Bifrost, Loki trying his best effort to get away. Thor was following behind looking disappointed yet regal. There was worry etched on the older princes' face. Loki tried to crane his head around to look at Thor.

"Thor, brother please, you can't let them banish me to Jotunheim," Loki pleaded trying to get Thor on his side.

Thor furrowed his brow and crossed his arms, "Ha, now you opt to call me brother."

Damn. He was going to die down on that frozen waste land, with those monsters, his monsters. Loki swallowed thickly and looked wide eyed as the Bifrost started up.

Thor put a reassuring hand on Loki's shoulder, "You'll be fine brother," he said quietly.

Loki straightened his posture and readied himself for the inevitable of being ripped apart by the Jotunn savages. The Jotunn savages that was his own race.

Loki tried once more to plead for anything but exile to Jotunheim, "Father please. You can't do this. I will be killed when I first step on to that frozen waste land," Loki said the last part in disdain.

"Loki you will take this punishment like a prince," he said looking down at Loki.

Loki stood in the middle of the room in a simple dark green tunic and leather pants. He also wore simple leather boots, an ensemble that would not be all that fitting for the cold of Jotunheim.

The Bifrost had reached full speed. Gungnir was pointed at his chest. The blast was quick and pushed Loki back. The force of the Bifrost pulling him in. Thor watched as Loki tried to grab out for someone to save him, fear flashing across his face.

xOx

_12 months later_

"Thor!" a voice echoed through the empty hallways.

Thor spun around, cape swooping around, to see his mother chasing after him. Her own gown billowing as she made her way to Thor.

"Mother, what ails you?" Thor asked worriedly.

"Thor, your father wishes to speak with urgently," she said clutching onto his forearms, "In the war room. Now," she added in earnest.

Thor saw the worry etched in her and paled, "Mother what has happened?"

"I do not know but I feel as though Loki may come into play," she said looking into Thor's eyes.

"Loki has been exiled for near a year. We have not heard from him. What makes you certain-"

"Thor I do not know but quickly go to Odin," she started ushering him.

Thor quickly headed in the direction that Frigga had come from. Thor knew the palace like the back of his hand making the journey to the war room, simple and swift.

Thor got to the throne room and opened the large doors. Odin was standing over a map of the Nine Realms looking grave. He acknowledged Thor's presence by looking up.

"Father, what is wrong?" Thor rumbled.

Odin looked back down to the map, "I have heard rumours that people are finding their way to Jotunheim and not returning from their travels, the ones that tell these rumours say they have returned but at a price, their sanity," he said rubbing his good eye, Odin was looking weary, "That there is also a new king, that he is created from shadows and fear. I worry for Loki, we have not heard from him since his arrival many months ago."

"What is there for me to do?" Thor asked.

"No warriors of Asgard wish to travel to Jotunheim, the rumours have spooked their cowardly hearts and only the Warriors Three and Lady Sif would venture but not without you, Thor," he answered weary. He was cautious about the recent developments, "It is a good thing that I trust you more than any other warrior in these lands," he added shaking his head.

Thor bowed his head, "I shall do my best All-Father. I will make preparations for the journey."

"There is one more thing my son," Odin said before Thor left, "Sif and the Warriors Three are not enough for this trek, if the last time you found your way to Jotunheim was anything to go by," Odin casted Thor a knowing glance, "You need more than just warriors if this does not work in your favour."

"What are you thinking father?"

"Who were the worthy mortals that saved Midgard? Are they not the finest of their warriors?" Odin asked with a definite voice.

"Father, they are just mortals?" the idea wasn't going to turn out so well.

"My decision has been made Thor. Travel to Midgard with the Warriors and Sif then travel to Jotunheim with the fierce warriors of Midgard," he said with finality, "Now go."

"Certainly All-Father," Thor said bowing.

Odin went to talk to a battle advisor and Thor left in search of the Warriors Three and Lady Sif. Thor walked down the hallway; he knew that he would have to persuade the team of avengers with as much vigour as possible. The Warriors Three and Sif would be much easier to get them to come along.

He made his way to where the warriors would congregate after a sparring.

xOx

Thor entered the room, looking around and seeing the fireplace in the middles. The warriors were seated around the fire place, Hogun sitting by the corner, silently watching, Volstagg laughing at the bickering between Fandral and Sif.

"Evening friends!" Thor said jovially.

"Something's up," Fandral replied eyeing him.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked looking around the room suspiciously.

"Volstagg hasn't eaten anything in 5 minutes," Volstagg feigned hurt, "I think a saw Hogun's face move with a possible smirk, Sif hasn't hit me today," Sif narrowed her eyes at him, "Sleipnir has been missing and you're looking unsure about something," Fandral's eyes widened, "Gods no. Has Ragnarok begun?"

Fandral let out a loud laugh.

"No my friends, I have a new adventure for us!" Thor replied cheerfully.

"There's something to it," Sif was eyeing Thor.

"Aye, that is true!"

"Well spit it out," Volstagg expressed impatiently going over to table of food.

"The All-Father has asked for me to go down to Midgard and retrieve the mortal Avengers."

"What?" Fandral spluttered, "And do what with them?"

"There's more," Sif was still eyeing him.

"There have been rumours that Jotunheim is under a new rule by a king made of shadows and fear," Thor added gravely.

"Yes, I have heard it too," Volstagg said, "That he wears armour un like any Jotun known. That his horns are unmatched, that they strike fear into the unsuspecting. That he is half dragon, that if you look into his eyes you will lose your soul," he said staring hauntingly into the distance, "Ooh boar," he grabbed a roasted boar's leg.

"Who have you been hanging around with?" Fandral asked raising an eyebrow.

"I heard it from one of the men that came back from Jotunheim," Volstagg offered around the boar in his mouth.

"I heard a similar story," came Hogun's accented voice.

"Odin has commanded that I bring you all to Midgard to persuade the Avengers to come to Jotunheim with us."

Fandral furrowed his brows, "What make you think we want to go to Jotunheim or Midgard for that matter?"

"Friends! An adventure!" was all that Thor offered.

xOx

Thor, the Warriors Three and Sif stood at the end of the Bifrost, waiting for the gate to open. It was rather easy to coax them into going on this venture. Asgard had been dull lately and Sif was irritated at only being able to spar.

"My prince," Heimdall bowed to Thor. Thor nodded in return.

The gate had reached full, "Let us depart friends!" Thor boomed happily. He was eager to see the Avengers again.

xOx

"Clint quit it! I swear if I have to come up there!"

Another arrow found its way into the wall behind Natasha.

"That's it," she growled.

She got up off her chair and started to scale the wall to get to Clint. He had made his home in the roof of Stark Tower since the first time he set foot in it.

"Shit," he said as he was more or less running for his life.

"You guys," Steve whined being the good ol' mother hen.

Clint and Natasha were running around the rafters.

"Someone's going to get hurt," just after he said it the sound of something hitting metal reverberated through the room.

"Ow!" Clint said.

"See what did I tell you," Steve rolled his eyes.

Natasha dropped down from the roof silently looking slightly smug. Clint fell down landing on his back and groaning.

Clint got up and started rubbing his forehead.

"What did I tell you?"

"She said I couldn't annoy her," Clint whined.

"And you took that as a challenge?" Steve asked looking at him with derision.

"That's a stupid challenge," Tony called out as he walked into the kitchen area.

Clint mumbled something close to whatever, still rubbing his head.

"Tony," Steve drawled, "Are you drinking scotch? It's only lunch time."

"No mother, I'm drinking tea," he voiced sarcastically, "I do what I want. My tower, my way," he added poking out his tongue.

Pepper walked in now, looking down at her phone and important looking papers held in her other arm, "Tony put the drink down," she said simply.

Tony pouted, "No," he replied petulantly hugging the drink to his chest, "I don't want to."

Pepper looked up and raised an authoritative eyebrow, "Down. Now."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her and slowly put the drink down, "Fine," he said slowly, "But I'm drinking after 4."

"6."

"5."

"5:30," she narrowed her eyes at him.

Tony copied her expression then relaxed, "Fine. 5:30 but then I'm getting drunk."

Pepper just rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised you haven't died of liver failure."

Tony just waved it off.

"You're not dying of liver failure?" she asked seriously.

"No, Pep. Still working, overtime but working."

Clint started cackling.

"What are you laughing at bird brain?" Tony asked turning to see Clint laughing.

"Oh Tony the big man got told off like a little kid," he said wiping a tear from his eye.

"Be quite Clint," Pepper pronounced with exasperation, "And you've got to stop wearing tight purple shirts. You look like a teenager in a pride parade," she added raising an eyebrow at Clint.

The laughter stopped and Clint's face went like stone, "I like my fashion sense."

"And so do flamboyant gay men," she quipped back.

It was Natasha's turn to start to laugh.

Clint just looked glum and crossed his arms, "Why are red heads mean to me?" he mumbled to himself.

Tony was trying not laugh but looked Clint like 'OWNED'. Natasha was still laughing.

Pepper walked into the room more and placed the paper in front of Tony, "It'd be good to have these signed."

"Why what's so important? Is something going to go boom if I don't," he asked smiling behind his fresh cup of coffee.

"No, Tony just sign the damn thing," she said with a small smile, "I think I'm hanging around you too much."

"What, you mean making fun of Clint's fashion statement of leather pants and tight shirts. That deserves an award," he said in admiration.

"Good to know," she said with a smile.

There was a booming roar in the sky and a large beam of light hit the heli pad outside. Everyone turned to look outside. Pepper jumped, Clint looked confused and Natasha slowly reached for a gun, Steve stood up, Bruce peeked his head from around the corner (never know where he is) and Tony walked over by the rest of the Avengers.

"What the hell?" Tony asked helpfully.

The light died down outside. Thor stood in the middle of the heli-pad with a blonde haired man with an impressive goatee who looked like Robin Hood, a feisty looking woman, a large, round, red headed man and a stoic dark looking figure. Tony looked in confusion at the group of impressive warriors that looked as though they belonged in a renaissance fair. They looked rather covered up for the weather.

They made their way off of the heli-pad.

"Hey Thor," Steve said nervously as Thor came through the glass door with his friends.

"My friends," Thor boomed raising his hands in greeting.

Thor looked regal in full cloak and armour. Tony looked behind Thor, "Who are your friends?" he asked looking at them then back at Thor.

"Ah, these are the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif," Thor said turning to gesture to his friend, "Fandral," he said pointing to the dashing blonde haired man. He wore a short cape that had furs adorning the collar, there was also a sword attached to his side, "Volstagg," he said pointing to the big red headed man, a giant war hammer attached to his back, despite his size he looked rather jovial, "Hogun," he gestured to the dark looking man who was wearing mostly black and wore a black cape. In his hand a menacing looking mace, "They are the Warriors Three," they nodded in hello, "And this is the Lady Sif," he gestured to the woman in conventional armour and a hooded cloak. The woman nodded.

"Pleasure," Tony said eyeing Thor, "But why are they here and why are you here?"

"I'm going to ring Fury. Maybe he's in a good mood today," Pepper muttered quietly in the background.

"We have come to make a request of import," Thor voiced looking serious, "My father. The All-Father, Odin has requested your help in a matter that may be dire to Asgard and Midgard."

Think Tony. Midgard, Midgard. Oh yeah, "Why does it affect us and why ask us?" Tony asked.

"Yes good question," Steve said.

"It seems that one of the Nine Realms, Jotunheim, has come under a new rule. There is a possible threat. We aim for diplomacy," Thor said gravely, "And we need reinforcements in case diplomacy does not work."

"Yes, the last time diplomacy 'didn't work' we nearly got ourselves killed on that waste land," Fandral said looking at Thor.

"That was… not pleasant," He said looking a little red.

"Thor's pig headedness got us into trouble last time," Sif added sharply.

"So basically, you want us to be some sort of defence?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Hogun said stone faced.

"That's… nice," Clint replied sarcastically as he sat by Natasha.

"Do not worry friends. I feel as though nothing will go wrong if you come," he boomed a little more cheerfully, "Last time there was only six of us."

"Wait, six?" Tony asked counting the group.

"Aye, six. Loki came. He was in a better state of mind if you will."

"Hold the phone," Clint piped up, "I heard Loki. What's with Loki," he was looking slightly skittish.

"That reminds me. Loki has also been missing for near a year. He was banished to Jotunheim," Thor looked grim, "If we go I will also search for him."

"Banishment? Isn't that a little bit of an easy punishment for what he's done," Banner offered.

"Well, my brother did kill their king and a significant amount of their population," Thor looked as though the thought pained him.

"So if we go we'd be looking for corpse," Tony said a little too cheery.

"Be careful of how you speak," Thor started to look a bit angry.

Tony raised his hands in surrender.

"I kinda of hope he's dead," Clint mumbled.

"Be careful little bird man," Thor growled.

"Stop making fun of me everybody," Clint whined.

"Stop being a little douche," Tony quipped back.

Clint just furrowed his brow and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Anyway," Steve urged Thor to continue.

"Recently people have not returned from travels to Jotunheim and if they do the only speak of horrors."

"Lovely," Tony drawled sarcastically.

xOx

The next hour Thor, the Warriors and Sif told the Avengers of their plan and asked whether or not they'd join.

The group had made a silent decision and agreed to travel there to prevent any disasters.

"So what are we to expect when going to Jotunheim?" Bruce asked.

"It is the home of the Frost Giants, so cold," Volstagg replied as he stuffed his face. Tony only realised now that that man had an appetite of ten men.

"What?" Clint squeaked, "Giants?"

"Yes, very much so. They are called Jotunns," Thor said confused at the question.

"So these things are dangerous?" Tony asked.

"Relatively, have you not met my brother?" Thor said with a chuckle.

Tony's eyes widened.

"What?" Natasha's first words of the evening, probably dissecting the surrounding conversation, "He's tall but not that tall."

"Isn't Loki a runt?" Volstagg asked Thor.

"Shouldn't let him hear that," Thor said wearily.

"But he's a runt on Asgard as well."

"Ok so Loki's small no matter where he goes," Clint said.

"True Hawk."

"Hey wait. What's Fury going to think?" Steve asked.

"Think what?" Fury stood in the door way looking as angry as always.

Everybody turned to look at the man in the black trench coat.

"My answer is yes," he said looking bored.

"Hold on. Do you even know what we're talking about?" Tony asked surprised. He didn't think Fury was that much of ninja.

"Video, I've also been here a while. Thanks to Virginia Potts I have all the information I need," he said calmly.

Tony furrowed his brows, "Who calls Pepper, Virginia? No one calls her Virginia, not even her mother," Tony said.

Fury didn't seem fazed.

"And you said yes, right?" Clint asked confused.

"That's right. As much as I like you I guys I can get real tired of Starks shit and he's caused a lot lately," he turned to look at Tony before he spoke, "Call it a holiday," he added with a false smile.

"Well that was overly simple," Clint offered the room.

Fury went to leave, "Don't die," was all he said as he walked out.

There were a few moments of silence.

"Well. Let's get packed. What's the weather going to be like," Clint asked slightly excited.

"It is cold and dark," Hogun offered.

"Helpful."

xOx

By the time everyone was ready to leave the Warriors Three and Lady Sif had fit in well. Hogun was still silent, Fandral had hit on just about everyone in the room except Sif, Volstagg was eating everything in Tony's tower and Sif had become BFFs with Natasha.

The two girls were talking battle strategies and convenient battle wear. Fandral was talking to just about everyone and was now flirting with the uncomfortable looking Bruce.

"Cut it out," Sif said to Fandral.

"What I'm just being friendly," he said confused.

"Your concept of friendly is highly unusual," she said with a knowing look.

Tony came out in a suite designed for colder climates; he had a jacket with fur lapels in his arm just in case. Natasha and Clint looked as though they were snow assassins in white camouflage. Steve's was similar but a little more casual and Bruce wore a jacket with fur lining and a beanie.

Tony held onto his portable Iron Man suit in the shape of a briefcase in his other hand. Steve had a backpack on with his suit in it and an extra pair of warm clothes and his shield on his back over the bag. Clint had backpack for him and Natasha and Bruce was sharing his with Tony.

"Come on Captain Alaska, let's go," Tony said as he made his way to Thor.

The rest of the team stood up. Thor and the Warriors were already heading outside, the Avengers following.

They stopped in the middle where they saw runes of the tarmac. Tony groaned inwardly, it was going to take ages to get that off.

"Be careful friends. The first time traveling can be disorientating," Thor offered helpfully, "Be weary when we get there."

Thor raised his hammer to the sky and a beam of light engulfed the group. There was a tingling feel as it surrounded them.

* * *

**END A/N:** So what you think, hmm? I should stop writing things. It's getting out of hand. Stay with one story silly writer * smacks self*. This chapter was going to be really long so I stopped it where it is. Jotunheim will be up next time. Sorry for OOC or any other brain fart things.

Adios amigos. If you review I will hug you via the web. If you do I can tell I'm going to love you.

Reviews feed my soul.


	2. Their New King

**I own nothing.**

**A/N:** Sorry it took a while it was going to be short but I put other things in, here it is. YAY. It was kind of poo along the way but I've managed to get to the ending I wanted last chapter. EHEHEHEHE. MY GOD this chapter was longer than I expected. Enjoy people, enjoy *creepy grin* Go read.

**Chapter 2: Their New King**

* * *

The first thing that hit Tony was the nausea. The rest of the team seemed to have it just as bad, except Cap, he seemed worse. Tony was wobbly, Clint and Natasha were leaning against each other, Bruce look alright actually and Steve was dry heaving.

The Asgardians weren't bothered by it.

Fandral let out a chuckle, "I guess they are not used to the way we travel."

"Yeah laugh it up Robin Hood," Tony said as he got his balance.

Fandral looked confused and looked to his friends, "I… do not understand, some Midgardian reference?"

Tony rubbed at his face and he'd finally righted himself, "Yes and it'd be too hard to-"

He stopped in his track as he looked around at where they had landed and it was clear that they weren't on Earth.

"Whoa," Clint said in something close to awe and it seemed to be the collective word.

"I thought you said we were going to a frozen wasteland?" Clint asked looking around a golden room and seeing a city made of gold, "Is that real gold?"

"Ah sorry my friends, this is Asgard," Thor said confused, "Heimdall, why are we not in Jotunheim?"

A tall dark figure in intimating gold armour stepped down from a golden pedestal in the middle of the room. He took a sword out of some sort of machine and the lightening surrounding the room stopped.

"Your father wishes to speak with you?" he said deeply, "And the mortal warriors."

Crap. Tony's mind supplied. But damn, Asgard was impressive.

Thor nodded and beckoned for the others to follow.

Thor and the warriors walked off. The Avengers stood in awe looking at the city in the distance.

"Are you not coming?"

Everyone's mouths were open but they nodded their head and slowly made their way to Thor.

"Welcome to Asgard," Thor boomed jovially.

The tall dark warrior stared at Tony as he walked out.

"So who's the big guy?" Steve asked as they started walking across a glowing rainbow bridge.

"Ah, that is Heimdall," Thor replied happily.

"And what does Heimdall do?" Clint asked, "And what the hell are we walking on?" he asked realising that there was nothing on either side of them and there was a drop into nothingness. He promptly clutched to Natasha in the middle.

"Heimdall is all seeing. He watches over the Nine Realms," Hogun said calmly. The dude never really talked.

"What we are walking on is the Bifrost," Sif added, "And what we came through is the gate. It allows us to travel through the Nine Realms conveniently. There are other ways but that's… the calmest."

"Calm? That wasn't calm," Tony said confused.

"First times are rough," Volstagg laughed.

They continued their walk across the bridge. They admired the city with its glowing gold towers and the all over impressive and beautiful visage.

The large group eventually made their way through giant halls to what was supposedly a war room. All along the way Clint and Tony were trying see into every room. Eventually the gloomy warrior decided to stand at the back of the group. They were like a bunch of 5 year olds. Most of the walk was spent straining their necks.

No one was allowed in the war room except Thor, so the Avengers waited.

Tony's phone buzzed in his suit pocket.

"How does that even work here?" Natasha asked from where she was talking to Sif.

Tony grabbed his phone and looked at it in confusion, "I have no clue, whatsoever," he looked at it again, "Hello and welcome to the Asgard hotel where you can get reception just about anywhere. How may I help you?"

"TONY!"

Tony cringed away from his phone at the loud and angry red head on the other end, "What, what? – Hey calm- That was uncalled for," he gave a smirk and the Avengers could only hear half of a conversation, "Fury didn't tell you? – Well now I'm telling you. – I don't know, let me ask," Tony put the phone to his shoulder, "Hey, Xena and the Warrior people, how long do you think we'll be here and the other place with Thor's little sh- brother?" Tony asked looking expectantly at the dumbfounded warriors.

"What is that thing?" Fandral spoke up first.

Sif just rolled her eyes, "Two days, maybe three. Depends on the welcome we receive."

Tony gave a thumbs up, "Ok," he went back to talking on his phone, "So two days maybe three. – You've done more in that amount of time. – What would you need me for anyway? – No. – Pep," Tony rolled his eyes, "Yep. – Yep. – Yep, ok got that. – Something about arcs and clean energy. – Pepper? – Pepper? – Pepper? – You're mothering again. – Yes you are. – I know that. – Ok. – Yep. – You too," Tony ended the call and turned to see everyone looking at him, "What?"

Steve just shook his head, "Nothing, nothing."

"What is that strange contraption?" Volstagg asked trying 'subtly' to get look at the phone.

Thor came out of the war room and stood in his royal glory, "Come my friends. Odin has words with you."

The group was ushered inside. A tall figure stood by a map. He reminded Tony of Fury, with the whole eye patch thing. He stood up tall when the group came in.

The warriors bowed their head to the powerful looking man. The Avengers stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. Steve being the loyal soldier bowed and urged the others to join.

"Warriors, there is no need for this," Odin smiled, "You are guests here."

They awkwardly stood up again.

"Thor you did not tell me there was a female warrior among them," Odin said giving Natasha a once over.

Natasha raised her eyebrows and looked slightly affronted.

"And what is wrong with female warriors?" a harmonious voice floated through the air.

Everyone turned and saw a gorgeous woman standing there with her arms crossed.

"Frigga dear, it was merely an observation."

"Sure it was," she said rolling her eyes, "I am Frigga. Thor's step mother," she gave a kind smile as she introduced herself.

"Don't," Thor said.

"Don't what?" she asked confused.

"The step mother thing. Mother will do," Thor gave a beaming smile.

Frigga just waved it off, "Has Odin even introduced himself?" She looked over to the king who had a guilty look, "Thought so," she looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, yes. I am Odin, king of Asgard and I welcome you mighty Midgardian warriors to this realm," he said loudly and it sounded as though he'd said that far too many times.

"Now if your done here I shall take these you people to the dining halls," Frigga said.

"Mother, I am sorry but we must be heading to Jotunheim after this," Thor said with a sad face, "We were supposed have already arrived."

Frigga narrowed her eyes at Thor, "Very well but first introduce us you big lummox," Frigga said slapping Thor on the arm lightly.

The Avengers just stood there occasionally looking at each other in confusion.

Thor feigned hurt, "Mother. These are the Midgardian warriors, Steve Rogers, the captain of one of Midgard's countries, Clint Barton, man of hawks, Bruce Banner, Lady Natasha Romanoff, the woman of spiders and Tony Stark, man of iron," all them bowed their heads at her in respect, Natasha a little more so.

"A pleasure," Tony said with a raised eyebrow and then kissed her hand.

He noticed Thor looking dark and slightly murderous behind his mother. He then gave a Frigga a smug grin and she looked at him sceptically.

"Watch that one," she said to one of her maidens while still eyeing Tony.

Odin cleared his throat, "Frigga," he said sternly.

She nodded her understanding, "I shall be off, good day," she turned and her gown flowed like silk as she left.

"Now how many of you have ridden horses before?" Odin asked and the whole team turned to face him with confused.

"What?"

"Horses Man of Iron," Thor said.

"I heard that but why," he asked confused and slightly fearful of the fact.

"Where you will be landing in Jotunheim, you will need faster transport," Odin said from behind the table getting ready to leave.

Thor saw the worry on Tony's face, "Can't you ride Stark?" Thor asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

Clint laughed, "It's not that he can't ride horses," he looked over at Tony with a smug look, "How is it you put it?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at him, "They are dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle."

Bruce, Natasha and Steve tried but failed to hide their laughter.

"What? I don't like them," he defended.

Thor laughed and chummily slapped his back, "We will see the horses when we are done here then travel to Jotunheim."

"We are done," Odin interrupted, "I only wished to meet the warriors that will settle the frost giant problem diplomatically and maybe bring Loki back," Odin seemed a little worried about it.

Thor bowed his head and everyone else did the same. Odin left the room on the way out muttering to one of his advisors, "I thought they'd be taller."

"Come friends. You have now met my family, the king and queen," Thor beamed, "Now let us go to the stables," Thor jerked his head in the direction he wished for them to follow.

They all left following Thor and the Warriors Three. The Avengers were still looking at each other unsure of what just happened. Thor's family seemed natural or far too natural for the setting of Asgard.

"So what did Odin say," Fandral whispered to Thor and looked over his shoulder to see the Avengers close behind but far enough not to hear.

Thor looked solemn, "There have been rumours that Loki has been killed."

"What?" Fandral nearly shouted, "What? Really?" he added in more of a whisper.

Thor just nodded and looked sad as he looked in the distance.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Clint asked Natasha.

Natasha gazed at Thor trying to figure it out, "Something not good, I think"

They made their way through the palace and onto the grounds. The stables were kept close to the palace.

Once Tony saw the horses he looked slightly disgusted.

"What's up?" Steve asked, always being concerned.

"I don't like it," Tony replied petulantly.

"Here we are!" Thor boomed making some of the horses jump.

The horses were larger than the ones on earth but not by much. Tony tried to stay away. They had been brought out and were ready to leave.

"What. Are you scared Tony?" Natasha asked as she went to pet on of the horses.

"If it's bigger than me I don't like it. If it's bigger than Thor I don't like it even more," he said trying to hide his fear as much as possible.

"Stop being a child," Clint said slapping him on the back and moving to one of the horses.

"Shut up bird brain. It smells in here," he said in slight disgust. He looked around at the stable they were near.

"That's the horses," Natasha said looking slightly irritated at Tony's petulance.

"Well they smell," he said scrunching his face up.

"Get on the god damn horse," Bruce was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Tony just narrowed his eyes and inched closer to the horse. Natasha was already on one and so was Bruce. Steve and Clint were patting them before they got on. Thor and his warrior buddies were already on theirs. Their saddles looking far more intricate than the ones given to the team on the other horses.

Tony was still not comfortable with the whole situation. Before he knew it he was being lifted up and place on the horse. He flipped his head around to see Volstagg on his horse. How was that guy not killing it? Tony looked at him slightly peeved then realised were he sat and froze. He looked down at the horse that hadn't moved and was grazing on some grass.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes, "How do you start this thing? Why couldn't we have had a cart or something? I have my suit you know."

"Just shut up Tony," Bruce said cutting him off.

It took about 20 minutes for Tony to figure out how to work the horse. He doesn't need horses he has cars. Stupid animals.

"Let us go. If we leave now we may get to Jotunheim before night fall," Thor looked grim.

Everyone followed his lead back to the Bifrost on horseback, Tony still adamant about the horses.

"So, uh, what's so bad about this place that we have to be there before dark," Steve asked slightly fearful.

"You don't want to find out. That is why we must leave," Hogun replied coldly.

All the mortals in the group looked at each other.

They had finally made their way to the Bifrost gate with the horses in tow. Tony had gotten used to the horse by now and wasn't completely scared of the animal.

"Heimdall," Thor greeted.

Heimdall nodded to the prince, "Be careful. Jotunheim has been hidden from me for quite some time," he said ominously.

Thor nodded and the Bifrost started up.

"Now if you stand here," Sif pointed to an area before the gate opening, "You should be pulled through. Hold the horses tight."

"Wait, pulled through?" Clint asked incredulously.

Fandral was in front of them all. He turned to face all the Avenger and the Asgardians. He stepped back slightly and saluted the people in the room as , what looked like, his whole body was pulled back.

The Asgardians didn't look impressed while the others had a mix of confusion, fear and awe.

A moment later he came back through the portal.

"Forgot my horse," he grabbed the reins of his horse and went back through.

There was moment of silence, "I'm not doing that," Clint squeaked.

"Hold tight onto the reins," Natasha said annoyed.

"What?" Clint replied confused.

Natasha pushed Clint forward and he was pulled through, "Who's next."

The others raised their hands in defeat, "Just don't push us."

The rest all stood in line and were pulled through like Fandral.

The second time wasn't so bad. As soon as they arrived an arrow whizzed past, nearly hitting Natasha who ducked it.

"That wasn't nice!" Clint yelled.

Natasha just poked out her tongue.

All the Avengers stopped what they were doing and looked around at where they were. The place was cold, unbelievably cold. They could see their breaths in the air. The sun looked as though it was setting over white mountains making the sky an orange colour, a contrast to the blue and white landscape. There was ice everywhere. Spires reaching the skies and the mountains in the distance were unbelievably tall. It seemed as if no one lived here.

It did look like a waste land but a beautiful wasteland.

There was a roar from in the distance somewhere that made everyone freeze and stop admiring the scenery.

"Time to go," Volstagg said worriedly and quickly got on his horse.

Everyone nodded quickly, "Good idea."

Bruce looked at where they were and realised that a cliff face was right at their feet. He looked down and couldn't see much, the ravine was far too deep. His eyes widened as he thought he saw something large moving down there. He quickly ran to his horse.

"Time to go!" he quickly jumped on the horse.

Everyone was on and ready to go. A spire of ice cracked and fell a fare way away and the sound echoed for a while longer.

"So does anyone live here? Because it seems like no one lives here," Clint voiced, there was hint of fear in it.

The rest of the Avengers and even the Asgardians seemed fearful of Jotunheim.

"Come friends, we have a way to go now," Thor spoke carefully.

Thor started riding slowly and was being careful of the ice sheets beneath their feet.

The sky was starting to go dark and a green aurora and stars were starting to become visible in the orange sky.

"This place is beautiful," Tony said looking at the sky in awe as they rode on faster now, "And I don't say that all that often."

Tony brought his head back down to watch where he was going. Some of the group were watching him over their shoulders.

"This place is a wasteland," Fandral expressed with confusion at Tony's thoughts.

"Uh, but it's a pretty wasteland," he replied raising a finger.

"I have to agree with Tony," Natasha remarked with a bored expression but her eyes said she was in awe of her surroundings.

"See, even our master assassin thinks it's pretty," Tony exclaimed.

Steve was looking around the place looking scare.

"Captain Alaska, what's up?" Tony asked.

Steve was still looking around, "This place creeps me out."

There was a howl of a wolf or something and then a couple more and a vicious growl. Everyone went silent.

"We must hurry or it will soon be night fall," Thor said grimly.

They instantly picked up speed, now travelling at a gallop. They eventually saw what looked like a palace made of ice, Thor slowed down and the rest did the same.

They came to stop at a set of stair made of ice. Thor dismounted his horse and as did everyone else. Snow started to gently fall catching in their hair and the horses started getting skittish, rearing and bucking.

"Easy," Sif hushed the horses.

Thor turned to see where they had come from, "This is the Jotun palace, it is actually in better condition than when I left last time," Thor exclaimed rather quietly, "Let us hope the king is kinder than the rumours."

The team looked slightly adamant about following Thor but they did eventually when the howling came back.

"So, um, you kind of destroyed this place last time, huh?" Tony asked looking around at the place that seemed to be doing better than expected.

"That is correct but it seems as though the Jotun have rebuilt part of the palace," Thor replied as they went up the stairs, everyone following behind.

"There seems to be no one here, Thor," Steve said confused as to where everyone was.

"They live in the ice," Hogun offered helpfully.

They had made it to the top of the stairs, "Foul creatures they are," Volstagg spoke quietly.

"It is probably not the best time to voice your opinions," Sif said glaring at Volstagg.

The Avengers stood still, amazed at the architecture. It looked like a cathedral made of ice and whatever sun was left outside made some of it shine and sparkle blue.

They slowly made their way through the empty place. The Asgardians looking fearful of the place they drew their weapons, the rest took that as a sign and did the same, except Bruce and Tony who stood back.

"Welcome," came a sly voice that echoed through the large room.

The hall was dark and each foot step echoed.

"What brings familiar faces here?" the voice asked.

Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir, "We seek the king of Jotunheim and we wish to have words."

"No need for such hostility Son of Odin but it is me you are looking for," the voice said again there was something off about it.

"Do not speak lies. Show yourself," Thor growled looking slightly skittish.

A couple of large blue creatures stepped out of the shadows looking menacing and defensive. The mortals swallowed thickly with wide eyes staring at the tall men.

"Uh-uh, hostility remember, I will not have it," the voice said again.

The giant men stepped away.

"I also seek someone who belongs to us," Thor said a little more kindly.

"Oh is that right," Tony could hear the smirk on the supposed king's face. Eyes glinted in the dark.

A green light emanated from a phantom hand. The light spread to the walls and filled the room with a warm candle lit glow.

Everyone turned back around to the throne that sat atop a dais and was now lit and easily seen. Atop the throne made of ice sat a smaller figure than the creatures that surrounded.

"Here I am," he exclaimed, "Their new king," he added more darkly, a smirk spread across his face.

The Asgardians looked in horror with mouth wide open at the blue figure. The Avengers not sure of what they were scared or surprised of.

"Loki?" Thor asked eventually.

All the others looked at the king more critically. Then everyone looked confused and horrified.

A laugh echoed through the hall.

* * *

**A/N:** Dobby do good? I didn't but yeah. Sooooo how you like. You like. You no like. NOW THAT'S OOC! But we will get to the why later. JOTUN!LOKI AWW YEAH. Ehehehehehe... Sherlock... ehehehehehe.

p.s. Sorry for any errors and that I ceebs editing (reading through) sometimes and I'm hungry.

I'll love you if you review. Feeeeeed meeeeeee. I love all of you that have already reviewed, followed, favourited. LURV.

Till next time, stay awesome!


	3. Warm Welcomes

**Owns nothing. Nothing.**

**A/N**: New chapter YAY and my god. ALL THE DESCRIPTIONS. Honestly Jotun!Loki is sexy, like any time I read it I'm like: ASHAJSLKFAHSKA. So feels for this chapter if you like blue Loki. So many characters in this I can't write them all! TOO MANY!

**P.S**. Anyone reading Condemned, I'm sorry, I've just had a little more feels for this story at the moment and I'm working on it.

Little bit of a heads up in the case that this is OOC Jotunheim may have made Loki a little loose or he could've been like that before but more reserved. Who knows. Not even the writer does and that bad.

**Chapter 3: Warm Welcomes**

* * *

The one thing NO ONE was expecting was Loki to be sitting on a throne made of ice like a whore and not just that. No, he was blue. Two guards stood near the throne on either side, they were at least two feet taller or more than any of the people in the room.

There was a devious grin on his face, "Now, lower your weapons. You seek the king and here I am. We don't want another war on our hands, now do we Odinson," he looked at Thor with a knowing look.

Everyone was thoroughly confused. Thor blinked owlishly at the blue figure. Loki kept on smiling; he licked his lips and stood up. Everyone had their weapons drawn.

"Welcome friends," he gestured to the palace jovially, "and enemies," he added a little more blandly.

He stood in all his glory. Blue skin with deeper blue markings. He had horns that were similar to the ones of his helmet but with the look of an animal. It made him look like an Ibex but no one, especially Tony, would've told him he looked like wild mountain goat because quite honestly, he looked menacing.

He had piercing red eyes that sent a shiver down the back of any who looked into them. There were gold chains dangling from the horns and gold pieces in his hair. His hair was impossibly long, part of it a braid and long strands trailed over his shoulders and down his chest. He wore next to nothing and they could easily see his toned body. What he did wear was a long loin cloth made of fur adorned with gold, simple gold vambraces and leg braces and a green cape with fur lining the top and on his left hand full finger rings that looked like claws. He also wore a large gold collar necklace that reminded Tony of ancient pharaohs.

Loki slowly made his way down the dais, the long cape dragging behind him.

"What trickery is this?" Thor growled out, worry in his voice. He griped his hammer tighter as did the others.

Clint had his bow drawn and fumbled realising it. It hit Loki in his left shoulder and he didn't move. The other frost giants quickly rushed forward. Loki raised his gloved hand and they stopped in their tracks. He looked down at the arrow in the front of his shoulder then looked at Clint with a devious glint in his eyes without raising his head.

Clint looked horrified at what he'd done and didn't know what to do as did the others. Everyone looked at him and he looked terrified, Thor looked ready to murder him. They then turned back to Loki.

Clint was about to speak when Loki snapped the carbon fibre arrow and dropped it on the floor. Blood was oozing out of the wound but Loki didn't seem to mind. He stared down Clint as he started walking towards them again and dug his fingers into the wound pulling it out. Everyone watched with horror. Loki dropped the arrow head that had made its way into his shoulder and licked his fingers. A bit of blood ran its way down the side of his mouth.

"I don't know whether I should give you that or make it warning number one," he said silkily as he walked closer, there was danger in his voice, "Because I did have awful fun with you. I think your spider might be jealous of what you did," he had a menacingly devious grin. He looked over at Natasha and licked his lips again, "and what a fine spider she is."

Clint looked ready to die and he wasn't sure whether Loki was going to kill him or not.

Loki was getting closer, sauntering over. He was in front of Clint now and everyone was too shocked to move, Clint too scared to. He looked down at Clint with a deceptive smile. Loki seemed to have grown a few inches since last they met.

He gripped Clint's chin with the ringed hand, the golden claws digging into the skin, cold emanated from him, "I'll let you have that one, bird man," he said close to his face staring into Clint's eyes with his red ones. He barred his teeth in a wider grin revealing deadly sharp death.

He let go and turned to see Natasha looking murderous but reserved. Clint relaxed but felt like he was having a heart attack. Loki stepped back and started circling the group looking like an animal ready to strike. He eyed them as he walked slowly around and licked his lips.

The group still looked slightly battle ready.

"It's a good thing you're here," he said stopping in front of Thor a few meters away, "I'm starving."

Tony thought about that and Steve said it first, "Are you going to eat us?" Everyone looked horrified at the prospect.

Loki threw his head back in a laugh, "Dear Norns no," he looked slightly affronted, "What kind of monster do you think I am. No, no, merely visitors mean festivities," he added with a charming grin.

Loki sauntered closer to Thor, "What has happened to you, Loki?" Thor asked worriedly.

Loki just raised an eyebrow and looked at Thor mischievously, "I merely found my calling," he spread his arms and gestured to the hall.

He got close to Thor's face, body's just touching and in a flash he put his un-gloved hand on Thor's crotch. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes and Thor's went wide. Loki started palming it.

Thor swallowed thickly, "W-what are you doing Loki, we are brothers?"

Loki put his mouth near his ear, "Never was, never will," he hissed and stared at Tony who was behind, "I see you like that," the address was ambiguous whether it was to Thor or Tony who looked flustered.

He continued to palm Thor's crotch and then stopped. He trailed his finger up Thor's body and started playing with the blond hair.

Loki pouted and looked at Thor who looked flustered, "You're not my type anyway," he said, directing it at Thor. He looked over to Fandral and noticed his disgust, "But I know Fandral's type, now don't I Fandral?"

Fandral went red and tried to avoid anyone's eye contact.

"I know what you like," he said with a wink.

He eventually stepped back from Thor, patting his chest lightly and gave another charming smile. He looked down at the wound that Clint caused and frowned, a bit of blood had gotten on the fur of his cape, "Have to have that washed."

He looked back up, "Now since I didn't know you were coming I haven't dressed for the occasion," Loki's demeanour changed and he was now being charming, "I'll have food prepared. Dinner will be in an hour," Loki nodded his head in gesture of good bye.

He turned around and walked off towards the throne, cape billowing behind him.

"Feel free to wander, the guards will stop you if you can't go anywhere," he called over his shoulder.

He started taking off the cape and it fell to the floor without care, "Run a bath," he called out to one of the servants.

He took of the vambraces and dropped them to the ground as well. He disappeared behind the throne and through a door. A servant hastily picked up the things Loki left on the floor.

Everyone was still staring at where Loki went. All were still dumbfounded. Steve fumbled with his shield and it clanged on the ground. Everyone jumped.

"Sorry," he muttered as he picked it up.

Their musings were broken, "What the fuck was that?" Tony almost yelled pointing in the direction Loki went, "And what the fuck are those blue things?"

The Avengers looked at each other shrugging their shoulders and looking thoroughly confused again. Clint was still frozen looking horrified and tortured.

"Clint?" Natasha waved a hand in front of his face, "Clint, you ok?"

Clint didn't move for a moment and everyone was starting to worry, "Uh, yeah. That was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me," he said quietly.

"I would very much like to agree with you," Bruce shivered.

"And confusing," Steve added.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked again.

"That was Loki," Hogun said eyeing everyone.

"That's not the Loki we usually know. He never usually acts like that or looks like that," Sif said confused. She still had a horrified look on her face.

The Warriors Three and Sif still looked slightly disgusted, "How is it even possible for Loki to be king? Didn't he destroy half of the Jotunn?" Volstagg asked.

"We must ask when we have the chance," Thor muttered.

"So those are Jotunn," Natasha muttered quietly.

"He is even viler now," Volstagg said quietly with disgust.

"Why, he's just Loki but blue?" Tony asked offhandedly, "Which is fucking weird by the way."

"Exactly, he is Jotunn. Jotunn are vile creatures. Hideous beings," Volstagg replied as if he had a foul taste on his tongue.

Tony looked wide at him and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. He looked at the other warriors and they shrugged, Thor did nothing but look awkward, "Wow," Tony said taken aback, "How noble of you."

Thor looked back around to the group, "What we grew up with is as Volstagg described of them."

"That's a stupid way to grow up," Bruce chimed in.

In Tony's head he was thinking the opposite of what the Asgardians were thinking and saying. He thought that Loki in his Jotun form was quite remarkable and if he was honest, beautiful. What was going on through Tony's mind? He chastised himself internally. It might have been the look Loki gave him, he wasn't sure whether Loki wanted to eat him or have sex with him or both.

Tony noticed Thor still looking shaken up, "It's probably better if you don't call him brother anymore, because you know…" Tony gestured to Thor's crotch, "Brothers don't really do that."

Thor seemed to deflate, "You are correct Anthony but thousands of years is hard to simply change something."

xOx

An hour had passed and no one left had left the hall. They all stayed silent. The sun had eventually set and the sky was filled with the amazing colours of aurora. Frost Giants stood guard by the door Loki had entered.

A tall door opened to the side, the creaking echoing through the hall. Everyone turned to attention most clutching at weapons.

The smell of freshly cooked meat wafted through the door. Volstagg dropped his battle axe making it clang on the ground.

"Shhh," Sif chastised, "Be still."

The sounds of footsteps echoed. Volstagg looked as though he was about to drop dead. He looked to Sif like a kicked puppy but she just hushed him with a finger to her mouth.

She slowly drew her sword.

A woman came through the door. She looked like the Jotunn but was the same height as Loki maybe an inch or two taller. She was muscular and wore a red silk skirt with fur along the top and a simple breast plate. She had black hair that was shorter than Loki's.

"Food is ready," she said kindly gesturing to the room.

The whole group looked at each other sceptically. Volstagg couldn't resist temptation and quickly made his way into the dining hall. The Asgardians rolled their eyes and quickly followed Volstagg but were still cautious. The Avengers followed in the same manner.

The woman nodded as they walked into the room and closed the door behind them. They stood in awe at what they saw: a large long wooden table sat in the middle of the room, upon it laid piles and piles of food from roasted boar to fresh vegetables and something that looked similar to mammoth, at the other end of the table was a chair far larger than the others surrounding it looking similar to a small throne, there was also a fire pit behind the large chair that heated the room up a little more. Some seemed surprised that the fire wasn't melting the walls.

The woman gestured for them to take their seats. Everyone took their seats. Loki was nowhere to be found. The Asgardians sat on one side of the long table and the Avengers on the other. Thor sat closest to the larger chair on the right side followed by Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun. On the other side Tony sat closest to the larger chair followed by, Steve, Bruce, Natasha and Clint. They were all glad that the chairs were place at least two spots away from the larger one they knew Loki would be sitting at.

Volstagg was frothing at the mouth. He tried to pick at the food but Hogun gripped at his hand tight to stop him and shook his head.

"It might be poisoned," Fandral whispered on Volstagg's right.

Large double doors behind the fire pit opened and four guards came out, two on each side of the doors. Loki came into view and had, what looked like, an advisor in tow. He turned quickly to face the advisor. They started talking just before they got to the door, no one could hear the conversation. Loki looked confused at first and then angry. Loki looked as though he was thinking then started talking again. The advisor was taking down notes. Loki stopped talking and looked at his advisor questioningly.

He was turning to leave when his advisor spoke again. Loki raised his brow in question. He hissed something to the other. The advisor seemed to question him.

"NOW!" the group heard Loki yell and was pointing in the opposite direction of the dining hall. He looked furious.

The advisor quickly left bowing to his king looking apologetic. Loki straightened and headed out of the doors.

He was dressed similarly to what he had before; the cape was different, it had more fur along the top with gold spaulders and gold thread detailed the back of the green fabric. He also had on vambraces that had intricate engravings on them in the style of a Norse wolf's head. He still wore a loin cloth but it was made of a fine deep green silk that had gold plated armour laid over the front part, underneath he wore leather pants and leather boots plated with gold the same as the vambraces except they were detailed with a snake in the same style, on each one. He also had on a small dull gold chest plate inlaid with emeralds with intricate Norse runes; the chest plate covered just that, leaving his midsection clear.

His hair was fully down now and was reaching down to his waist. He still had bits of gold in his hair and over his horns. He really did look like an odd king. Everyone had their mouths a gap.

The cape billowed as he made his way around the fire pit making for an impressive entrance. Everyone was still watching him.

The woman came around the table filling up chalices with wine.

Loki bowed his head to the table's occupants, "Guests," he welcomed kindly. He sat down and relaxed slightly.

"What was that about?" Steve asked looking to the doors that were now closing.

"Oh, nothing of concern to you," he said as smoothly as possible.

The woman came around to Loki and he looked at her intently licking his lips as she filled his cup. She looked at him as well. She left the table bowing to the group.

"See me after Angrboda," Loki called over his shoulder.

It sounded rather cold but the woman smiled and nodded her head, "Yes my liege," and she left hastily.

Loki trained his eyes onto the table and noted the awkward silence. He flicked his wrist of his ringed hand and the room lit up more.

"There, much more delightful," he said smoothly.

He raised his cup in toast, "Welcome and enjoy the food," he downed the wine. He noticed the looks people were giving him and the food, "It's not poisoned, cross my ice covered heart," he placed a hand on his chest honestly.

"Somehow I don't believe you," Fandral muttered.

Loki smiled charmingly again. With another flick of his hand, some food from the table materialised onto his plate.

"Dig in," he affirmed with a smirk.

Eventually Volstagg was the first to crack as he watched Loki take nimble bites. The rest soon followed.

"Good. Don't want any food to go to waste," he said silkily.

Loki looked over the table. People were still unsure. Loki just rolled his eyes.

"What is it? The face?" he looked at the Asgardians knowingly.

Loki flicked his hand again; the blue skin slowly fading away to the pale colour all the others had seen before, the horns slowly vanished and the golden chains now laying in his hair and the red eyes turning into vibrant green ones. All just stared looking impressed.

"Better?" he asked.

With Loki being white again Tony could see some faint scars lining the king's mouth that he didn't see when he was blue.

There was silence once more.

"Where did you get all this meat?" Volstagg asked looking confused at all the food.

"Despite what the Aesir had taught us, parts of Jotunheim are teaming with life," he said with a smile, "Maybe one day I'll show you," he added kindly, "Now what is the meaning of the visit: diplomacy or war?" he asked off handed placing a grape in his mouth.

"Diplomacy and to ask some questions," Thor said before anyone else looking slightly sad down at the plate of roasted boar.

"Oh come. Lighten up Thor," Loki leant back in his chair, "I'm not dead and you have questions. Ask," he gestured for Thor to continue.

"What happened to the previous king?" Sif asked hastily with furrowed brows.

Loki looked a little annoyed at the question. With a wave of his hand a severed head of a Frost Giant appeared in his hand. He threw the head down the other end of the table. It rolled a couple of times before it stopped.

"I killed him," Loki replied nonplussed, "I seem to have a habit of that, don't I?"

Everyone looked horrified at the head and then back to Loki.

"That's Býleistr," Hogun said wide eyed.

"Hm, yes I believe it is," Loki was looking at his nails, "He is also my birth brother."

The group was still horrified by it.

Loki rolled his eyes again, "It is by my birth right that I rule over Jotunheim," he began to explain, "Býleistr was younger than me, and he became king in my absence and the death of Laufey. Býleistr was a worse ruler than Laufey," Loki said incredulously, "In order to take my place as king he would have to step down. As most rulers, he didn't take too kindly to being de throned."

"Sounds familiar," Fandral muttered.

"Oh yes quite," Loki said slightly chipper, "Býleistr was a tyrant and in the case of Jotun customs, if an heir to a throne decides he wishes to be king," he gestured to himself, "than they may be able challenge the king to a… duel if you like, to the death or until someone surrenders."

"So he didn't surrender?" Bruce asked, seeming to be interested in the story.

Loki shrugged, "He did but I took the precautionary measure and was rewarded with it."

"That's un sportsman like," Tony said quietly.

Loki turned to him, "Such morals you have. So noble," Tony wasn't sure whether he was being sincere or if he was joking, "Let me show you something. Angrboda," he called out.

The stocky woman came out hurriedly.

"Get Helblindi for me," he ordered. She nodded her head and was on her way, "Helblindi is the youngest of this little blue family," he exclaimed jokingly, "But however he was treated as a threat despite not wishing for the crown," he added darkly.

Angrboda came out with a young male Jotun. The two stood next to Loki's chair.

"Helblindi, turn around."

The young Jotun turned around to reveal his blue back that had been scarred. The group looked unsure.

"Býleistr," Loki gestured to the young man's back, "Leave us," they both left quickly. Loki looked back at the group, "Any more questions?"

Fandral raised his hand slightly, "How have they accepted you as king? You killed a lot of the Jotunn and two of their kings."

Loki nodded, "I was surprised by that fact as well. Simply they wished for the rightful heir to the throne. They were used to tyrants so the death of some Jotunn didn't faze them as much as I thought," he waved a hand dismissively; "I seem to have made Jotunheim a better place since my rein."

Volstagg looked confused still, "How have you accepted the Frost Giants? Are they not vile creatures?" Volstagg asked incredulously.

All of the table's occupants looked at him.

Loki's face became hardened and closed off, "No they are not," he said coldly, "At first that were my thoughts but views change don't they, Thor?" he looked to Thor who sat quietly, "When you are ruled by a monster by morals you become a monster," he said quietly, Loki furrowed his brows in confusion at the group, "The Jotunn that you say are vile by actions are not. I may seem unfitting, I may even seem a hypocrite but I wish to bring Jotunheim into better light, that is why I took it as my duty to become sovereign," Loki looked slightly sad, "I can't tell you for sure what made me change, it might have been the firsthand experience of a cruel tyrant or the few that were kind but know this, I have accepted these people and you should all do the same," he looked at the group accusingly with a tight jaw.

"Brother-"

Loki slammed his fist on the table making everyone jump, "I am not your brother!"

Thor seemed to deflate and everyone went silent again. Loki watched darkly at the group were silently eating. Clint and Natasha were looking at each other silently communicating, Bruce and Steve were sitting awkwardly and Tony was in his own world. The Asgardians on the other hand were subtly looking at Volstagg who was still shovelling food into his mouth.

Loki looked like a snake at the end of the table eyes darting from one individual to another. He eventually laid his eyes on Tony who he noticed wasn't paying any attention. Loki gave a small smirk.

A small door on the side opened and the advisor came in looking worried. He stopped right next to Loki and whispered in his ear.

Loki looked irritated and turned his head slightly to talk to him, "How long?" he asked quietly.

The group at the table were now watching intently.

The advisor continued to whisper in his ear.

"How many?"

He went back to whispering. He stood back looking anxious waiting for the king's response. Loki looked slightly angry then impressed. There was a smirk starting to form on his face. The advisor spoke to him some more.

Loki was looking slightly devious, "No, no. I think I'll do it on my own."

The advisor looked worried and Loki waved him off, he bowed then left the room.

Loki looked back to the table of confused warriors, "Care for a little adventure my friends?" Loki looked at them darkly.

* * *

**MORE A/N:** OOC or not. Did you like it didn't you? That is the question. Sorry for grammatical issues and OOC and ME MAKING LOKI HIT ON HIS EX BROTHER. I don't ship it but man Thorki fans may have liked it, dunno. For maybe pointing out the elephant in the room I ship Frostiron and in my head that is the yellow brick road and may take different paths but that's the track... I think. Ibex horns people those are some sexy horns by the way. Check that shit out. OH what has Loki planned. MWAHAHAHAHA.

You know what's nice, reviews. Yeah those are nice. If you could, you know, do that. I'd love you forever! Even if it is criticism.

Laterz and stay awesome people. STAY SEXY.


	4. The White Dragon

**A/N:** First of all I'd like to deeply apologise for this being so bloody late. I really am sorry! There is a constant factor in my life that forces me to switch houses every few days and those houses are 100+ km apart from each other and those of you who don't know the metric system, that's fricken long and the country I live in, that's a small distance (to get there I have to take 2 trains and a bus)! Also at the other house my mother is more than computer literate and doesn't let me on the computer. She isn't old. To sum things up, SORRY.

**A/N 2.0:** HERE IT IS THOUGH and I love all of you who are reading it. Inspiration for the throne room comes from the Thor concept art book and the throne room of Whiterun Castle in Skyrim. This Jotunheim is going to be more like the Norse mythology one and actually has life not like the desolate planet in Thor (though some parts are like that, where the castle is). If you've played Skyrim basically that's where the landscapes come from and basically anything else really (the mountainous parts and snow) also the castle reminds me of the College of Winterhold. This fic is slowly turning into an AU, my bad.

I'd like to thank/love** phoenix360 **for PM'ing me and basically getting everything off the bat!

There is some Old Norse in here and I don't speak it. I only speak two languages: English and Bad English. Inaccuracies, I'm sorry.

**WARNING**: blood, voyeurism (sort of)

**Chapter 4: The White Dragon**

* * *

Everyone looked at each other confused. Loki watched on expectantly. Eventually the Asgardians looked eager about the prospect but the mortals looked sceptical.

The Asgardians talked among themselves for a moment, "We see no issue with it. What about you?" Thor looked to the Avengers.

They looked rather put on the spot, "I see no problem. I lack self-preservation," Tony shrugged.

The rest nodded slowly still looking suspicious at Loki.

"Fantastic," Loki clapped joyfully.

He stood up and waved his hand, a sceptre materialised in it. It looked similar to the one he used during his attack. The gem was different, emitting a greener colour, there were feathers and fur adorning the top part were the blades were. It looked more tribal than last time.

The Avengers were confused. They remember keeping the sceptre, "Did we keep that?" Natasha asked eyeing it.

Loki looked at the tall sceptre in his hands, "You have the Chitauri one," he looked to her, "You wouldn't think I'd just have one would you? No this one is mine."

"So what have we signed ourselves up for?" Steve rubbed his forehead still not sure it was a good idea.

"If you'll follow me I'll inform you on the way to your rooms," Loki gestured for them to follow.

"What do you mean 'rooms'?" Bruce asked this time.

"We can't leave just yet. It's a long ride and you would do well to rest," he replied kindly.

This was far too weird for anyone's liking. Loki being nice sent uneasy shivers down everybody's back.

Loki gave a charming smile, "If you please," he gestured for them to stand again.

They looked at him confused and stood slowly.

"Excellent, I'll show you around the palace as well."

Loki turned and made his way up the stairs the cape billowing. The rest followed behind. Two frost giants opened the large doors behind the fire pit and bowed as Loki strode past.

The hallways of the palace were made of ice just as the rest of it. The roofs were impossibly high and arched. Intricate depictions of battles were carved into the ice walls. Everyone's footsteps echoed in the silent passageways, Loki was the only one whose footfalls made no noise. Everything seemed cold.

"There are two parts to the palace," Loki called over his shoulder, all his words echoing, "One where the Jotun stay, where it stays cold and another part which has been enchanted to stay a lot more pleasant," he stated as if he noticed the chattering teeth, "I have certain… goods, if you will, that I need to keep at bearable temperature," the words echoing eerily and small smirk graced Loki's lips.

"So which part do you reside than mighty king of ice?" Tony asked humorously.

"The warmer parts but you will not find my quarters no matter how hard you try."

For half an hour the group was ushered around being shown rooms and parts of the palace of interest; war rooms, weapon vaults. It was essentially a giant cathedral made of ice. Loki's magic made the trip a lot more interesting; lights coming on when he walked into a room or down a hall and turning off when he left. Loki's armour glinted in whatever light there was and the gold thread of the cape did the same.

Tony was expecting Loki to disappear into the shadows with a sadistic grin and slowly pick off the group like the fucking Predator. The dangerous glint in his eyes didn't help the thought.

They eventually entered the warmer part of the palace; parts of it were under construction putting in proper walls and floors. It was still slightly cold.

"Now, I'll inform you all of my predicament," he still strolled down the hall.

Tony got a glimpse of a room closed off by a deep green curtain. It was the only one out of the hundreds he'd seen here that was closed off by a curtain. He'd have to be nosey later.

They were walking past a court yard now with a solitary white tree lacking leaves standing in the middle. Pillars being the boundary for the small court yard.

"There seems to be some issues with raiders in the western region. They have a tendency to destroy towns," he stated again, the words echoing less, "They are about two and a half maybe three days out from the nearest town. The town is half a day's ride from here."

A servant came around the corner with a tray of chalices. She was different to the Jotun; she had normal, pale skin but pointed ears, she was shorter than the whole group. She was a similar height to Natasha of all people. She had blonde white blonde hair and a simple blue dress on. The Asgardians looked surprised and the Avengers weren't getting it.

The small woman bowed with the tray and Loki took a cup. He sniffed the contents first, "Never can be too safe," he took a small sip, "Anyone care for any?" the group shook their heads.

"Why do you have an Álfar servant? And _how_ did you acquire one of the Elves, Loki?" Thor asked with growing concern.

Loki waved it off, "I have many Elves here and I didn't steal them if that's what you're asking. There are other races living in this palace. The servants in the warmer parts of the palace aren't Jotun," he stated matter of factually, "I have Álfar, Vanir and even Dvergar working along these wings and they chose to come here or at least some did and others are here as punishment for crimes against the crown," Loki raised an eyebrow that dared to question him. There seemed to be something that Loki was purposefully not telling them.

Loki waved the girl off and she hastily left.

"You can have the whole day off tomorrow," he started walking off again, "We'll leave the following morning. We've had trouble with these raiders before."

"How many are there?" Steve still acted the good soldier.

Loki thought a moment, "About thirty. I'll double check with my advisor and let you know," he looked back to Steve.

"But that's a platoon," he stuttered.

Loki just shrugged.

"Here is the guest wing," Loki waved a hand in the air and candles on the wall flickered to life, "You'll find that your names are on the doors to your respective room. You'll be able to easily find the hot springs," he pointed down the hallway, "It will be right to the end."

The group looked around the wing.

"You are free to wander where ever you like because I'm sure Volstagg would want more food later on," Volstagg tried not to look guilty, "Guards will stop you otherwise. There should be servants scattered around, if you ask for me they'll come and seek me."

The group studied the wing again. The roof rose high, they couldn't see where it ended. They turned to find Loki gone.

"We'll that wasn't creepy," Clint stated sarcastically, "What do you suppose we do now?"

Hogun looked around the eerily dark wing, "Sleep."

They each found their rooms. Clint and Natasha's were together and nobody made comment on it. Loki was far too perceptive for his own good. Tony still stood looking around.

"What are you doing?" Steve wasn't loud but his voice carried well.

"I think I'm going to explore."

"Are you stupid?" Natasha whispered but just barely and seemed more like a yell.

Tony just nodded and slowly went the way they came from, "Most defiantly," he looked down at his watch, surprised that it still worked here, "It's only about six and I'm feeling the adventure," he gave an excited look to the dumbfounded group.

"Is he always that pig headed and stupid?" Sif asked Thor quietly.

"Yes," Thor stated simply looking on to Tony with a look of disapproval.

"That's not a smart idea," Steve always with whinging.

"Anyone want to come with me then," nobody answered, "And if Loki hurts me or his giant buddies then wouldn't it create a war something? I don't think Loki wants that."

The Asgardians nodded and shrugged. The Avengers (Steve) were still worried.

Natasha gave a frustrated huff, "Wear an ear piece. Would that suffice Captain?" she turned and looked annoyed at Steve, "I'm tired. I do not want to hear anymore of this and I have to deal with Clint."

Steve seemed to deflate but Tony looked joyed, "Geez thanks mom," Tony called overdramatically. Tony held up the earpiece, "Happy?"

"Fine," Steve huffed and he went into his room.

"Oh," Tony feigned hurt, "Did mummy and daddy fight?"

"Shut up Tony and go annoy someone else," Natasha rolled her eyes and shoved a hurt looking Clint into the room.

"Duly noted."

"Just don't come back crying because this place gave you the spooks," Natasha looked around the place again trying to make it out but something wasn't sitting right with her.

"Oh is the spider scared?" Tony looked smug and was trying not to laugh.

Natasha just looked at him with angry eyes, "Just go get lost somewhere."

Tony was way ahead of her and strolled down the hall. He heard her door close behind him. Everyone had done the same and retreated to their rooms. Maybe they were cowards or Tony was really just stupid. Now that he thought about it, he was probably really stupid.

The place was a lot creepier when you didn't have other people and someone who knew their way around. He walked around for another 20 minutes. Even though he didn't have any magic to light his way it was surprisingly easy to see, the moon helped, it illuminated quite a bit of his way.

The halls and passageways were far too eerie for anyone's liking. Tony would think he saw eyes in the shadows or something move but he'd look again and there would be nothing. He wouldn't be surprised if something or someone was watching him.

Tony eventually got to the colder part of the palace; the cold hitting him hard and he zipped up his thick coat.

The walls seemed different the last time. Maybe he was in a different part and he really was lost. Tony inspected them more carefully. The walls of ice had been carved into a scene of beauty rather than battle looking like a great tapestry. It was a creepy depiction of a bountiful land. The scene stretched the whole length of a long wall telling a story. There were mountains and fields, animals and creatures Tony had never seen before, all living in peace. He followed along the wall and the scenes gradually changed form dark ice carved beauty into a gradual bloody battle.

He put his hand on the wall and moved his hand over the detail, following the smooth lines. He was in awe of it.

He got to the end of the wall. It ended with a half wall and some pillars, just like everything else in this part of the palace, it was carved from ice.

Tony nearly carelessly walked by, but something in the back of his mind told him otherwise. He slowly peeked his head around. He quickly withdrew his head and tried to stay as close to the wall as possible. Loki was there.

He peeked his head around again, he was glad for the shadows. Loki was about thirty feet away from where Tony was, right down the end of the secluded hallway. Loki was all blue again, horns and all. What kept Tony from turning away and his brain having a fight with itself was that Loki wasn't alone. Angrboda, the female Frost Giant was with him.

The scene was compromising to say the least. Angrboda's back was flat against the wall, her legs wrapped tightly around Loki's waist and her skirt pulled up, Loki was thrusting hard into her, he too was fully clothed, his pants had been pulled down slightly and the loincloth moved out of the way. Her face was a mixture of pain and pleasure. Loki had his head tilted back slightly and he still managed to look all like a king as he thrust into her, the act making her moan loudly. Loki made it all look so effortless. The look in his eyes was dark and foreboding.

She tried to bend down to kiss him but Loki seemed to not have any of that. With one quick move of his hand he closed her jaw with a snap and pushed her head back into the wall. A growl of anger came from deep within his throat. His welcomed assault became faster and harder. She tried to moan though her mouth was firmly shut.

Loki barred his teeth, the tendons in his neck straining. He bit down sharply on her neck making her yelp and blood slowly trickled down. With one smooth long movement Loki dragged his tongue, lapping up the blood. With one more thrust Loki let out a small growl and was done.

He let go of Angrboda unceremoniously. He pulled his pants back up that had been down on his thighs and readjusted the loincloth. The woman lowered her skirt and fixed her hair. She seemed to be standing on shaky legs. Loki's face was unreadable and stony.

Loki wiped his hand of something on the woman's skirt, his face scrunching up slightly in disgust. Tony could only imagine what he was wiping off. Loki used his middle finger of the other hand to get the blood from the corner of his mouth and sucked on it salaciously as he looked at the woman.

He went to whisper something in her ear and from the looks of it, it wasn't good. She looked disappointed and left without further word. Loki looked around the passageway like a predator looking for food as if he sensed someone was watching.

Tony ducked back behind the wall again. Well that was… interesting. Something he wasn't going to easily get out of his head. He felt like a voyeur watching something like that and he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it slightly. Like some weird inter realm live porno.

He turned back around just peeking out the side. All he saw was the flourish of a cape as it rounded the corner at the far end.

Tony quickly got his composure back and quickly made his way back to his room. To not think. About that. That just happened. Maybe he could find some alcohol or something. Because what just happened made him feel uncomfortable. Tony swallowed thickly.

Tony rounded a corner and ran into something large.

Just his luck.

Volstagg was the something large. The large Asgardian turned around. As Loki predicted he had gone in search of food and seemed to have found a plentiful amount, as evident by the large plate in his meaty hands.

"Ah," he said jovially around a mouthful and swallowed, "The little Midgardian!"

It seemed Volstagg had a habit of running his mouth, no filter from brain to mouth. Tony just gave him a sceptical look even though he was trying to hide his nervousness. He probably wasn't even privy to what Loki did in his spare time… late at night… with other company. Tony was feeling mighty uncomfortable around someone who grew up with Loki now.

"What are you still doing around?" Volstagg seemed far too cheery for the place and time.

"Ah, nothing. Nope. Just kinda going for stroll," he was failing miserably at hiding his discomfort, "You got food. Good. Got any liquor?"

Volstagg looked confused. Tony noticed the chalice in his other hand.

"Mind if I take that?" Tony snatched it from him anyway and skulled it. The burn was soothing for the part time alcoholic.

"You should be careful," Tony really wanted to just leave now, "For someone who hasn't dealt with the realms before," go away fat man, Tony looked him over, "Watch yourself. You shouldn't trust this place." Volstagg looked around the giant hallway cautiously, "This place is evil."

Tony had had enough, "Ok look, I haven't been here before and it doesn't look all that bad, a bit creepy and dark, yeah. So if you don't mind I'm going to wander a bit more."

Volstagg just shrugged, "Suit yourself," he turned the opposite direction, back towards the dining hall, "Sleep well. I realised that this is not enough," he gestured with the shit load of food already in his hands.

"Right."

Volstagg went on his merry way to the glory of food and Tony made his way to his chambers. The trip back was like the little stroll; eerie and dark. It didn't quell the uneasy knot in his stomach.

He eventually got to the rather large door that when pushed open, did so with ease despite its girth. The room was big; the noise coming out of his mouth was that of surprise and a small amount of awe. It looked as if it had been carved from rock and ice, but done with elegance like one of those fancy hotels in Sweden made from ice.

Despite its look the room was surprisingly warm. Tony touched one of the walls to find there wasn't much semblance of cold. It had the temperature of a brick wall. Tapestries lay over the top of most of the walls, fanciful patterns stitched onto the red fabric.

The bed was covered in furs from what looked like one animal. It was a little daunting that animals got that big anywhere. He put his fingers on it – _and oh my god!_ – It felt like he was petting a thousand Chinchillas. It was the softest thing he'd ever felt. He brought the fur quilt up to his face, rubbing it on his cheek.

"Oh god," he moaned at the feel. _Maybe I should get Pepper to kill some Chinchillas_, he thought as he fell into the soft material. Tony Stark always the one for the finer things in life, he probably looked like a cat rolling in cat nip.

From there on it was far too easy to fall asleep.

**xOx**

Despite what he saw the night before Tony slept and slept like a baby he did. He had basically forgotten about it and he could get used to sleeping like that. He hadn't slept like that in a very long time.

There was a knock at the door that echoed through the room. Tony was situated in a pile of pillows and furs and didn't feel the need to get up just yet.

"Tony you have to get up," Natasha sounded as if she woke up on the wrong bed, "We are going to breakfast and I don't want anyone being split up."

Tony moaned his reply, "I don't want to. This cloud is fluffy!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Just get up!"

"Fine."

He slowly opened his eyes. The sight that greeted him was amazing. The roof was made of ice that formed a chandelier type thing and reflected the morning sun making the whole ceiling look like blue diamonds.

"Wow," Tony breathed out.

Tony stared at the ceiling for a moment admiring the intricacies. He eventually sat up noticing that his stuff had been brought into his room.

He hastily changed and quickly made his way out the door to find the entire group there and chatting amongst themselves.

"Shall we depart fair maiden," Tony mocked a bow. Natasha didn't look too pleased, "Get up on the wrong side of the fury bed," They all started to head off. Volstagg looked especially hungry.

"Clint snores," was all she offered.

"I thought you'd be used to that by now," he raised his eyebrows salaciously at her and winked.

The look she gave made Tony fear for his spleen, "Oh right, secret," he whispered tapping his nose.

The walk to the dining hall was quite something. With the sun up everything seemed to shine and glisten and the details of the carved walls could be seen. The battles, the landscapes. Once they got into the colder parts of the palace they realised that it wasn't as cold as last night. They all still wore thick clothing.

They eventually got to the dining hall with little fuss. It seemed the mornings were busy for the people in the castle. Which actually seemed like a lot and not all were Frost Giants; there were elves and other shorter people scurrying around. He guessed Loki wanted to feel taller than someone.

The dining hall was littered with food, similar to dinner time. Guess who was first to dig in, Volstagg. Tony didn't much care for him.

Once all were seated conversations began.

"I don't know about you guys but that bed was awesome!" Tony stretched his arms and gave a yawn.

Everyone except the Asgardians seemed to agree.

"It was like a fury cloud," Clint agreed around a mouth full of meat.

"It would've been nice if people would get their sleep apnoea fixed," Natasha glared at Clint.

"We do not understand. I found the bed rather uncomfortable," Thor butted in looking confused.

"You know, this place isn't that bad. You made it out to sound like some sort of hell," Tony looked confused at the Asgardians and so did the rest of the Avengers, "It's a little run down in places, yeah, but other than that, it seems fine."

"Nice even," Bruce added turning to look at the room.

"We must agree, it does seem improved," Fandral seemed put out a bit, like he didn't like the fact that the place wasn't a dump.

"You must remember that when we came here, this place was ruins and not much more. Whatever my brother has done he has done with speed."

"Maybe he does hold love for these beasts," Fandral sighed confused.

It seemed Bruce was going to say something about that when a frost giant came into the hall, "The king would like to know how your sleeping arrangements were to your tastes."

King? Oh yeah, Loki was king, "Very nice," he said and then glared at the Asgardians. Tony had a feeling that he hadn't heard the last of their pleasant ideas.

"Our Lordship – " the frost giant, who was living up to his name, was cut off by the sounds of someone's angered and pained screams.

"What the?"

Everyone stood from the table in a rush at the noise. There was crash beyond the doors, the doors that led to the throne room. The frost giant looked as if he knew something they didn't and quickly left, the door closed and echoed behind him.

"What do you thinks going on?" Steve directed his question to the people that knew more; the Asgardians.

They merely shrugged and Thor looked anxious.

They quickly left the table, Clint nearly falling over the chair. The throne room doors wouldn't budge, even the mighty Thor couldn't move it. It was like Excalibur, everyone trying to open it but to no avail. Natasha and Sif were the only ones not participating and they looked rather smug as well.

"What, too un lady like for her majesties?" Tony crossed his arms at them.

"You do realise that there was a balcony," Natasha pointed to a smaller door to the left of the large doubled ones, "And that the door for it's unlocked," her smug grin got bigger as the guys looked a little put out and Sif was holding back her laughter.

Tony huffed and brushed his clothes of some invisible dust. He eventually strode over, the others did too, silently, trying not to look embarrassed.

"Gentlemen," she gestured for the men to go through.

"Ladies first," Sif added.

"So when did you two become BFFs?" Tony asked over his shoulder as he made his way upstairs to the so-called balcony.

The girls both looked to each other, Sif looking a little confused. Natasha leaned in to whisper something in her ear, realisation going over Xena's face and she laughed silently.

"You two going to paint your nails and do other girly things," Tony mocked.

Both sets of eyes went to him quickly. Again, Tony feared for his spleen and maybe his face. Oh, his pretty face. He shut his mouth and trudged up the stairs.

Everyone was eventually on the balcony looking over to see Loki sitting high on the throne, shadows cloaking him. A frost giant was kneeling a few feet away from the foot of the throne, he seemed pretty defiant and beat up. Other giants, Tony's mind supplied as the guards, stood near with spears of ice pointed at the one kneeling.

"We found him. He is one of the raiders intent on attacking in the western region," a Jotun growled, "He is just a scout."

Loki raised a hand and the guard stopped speaking.

"What are you planning?" Loki's voice was smooth but if you weren't stupid you'd know something was about to go down.

A few of the non-Jotun staff had made their way onto the balcony as well. An elf, wearing very warm looking clothes, had situated his self next to Tony over looking, "This shall be entertaining," the elf said.

"I will never tell you, Bleikr Dreki!" the giant kneeling spat the words.

Tony and the humans looked confused while the Asgardians looked nonplussed but still confused about the name, "What did he call Loki?" the elf next to Tony looked to him confused.

"You are from Midgard," it was a statement addressed to the Avengers sans Thor, "The king has names the people have elected to call him," he added after a moment, "Most, the ones that revere the king, call him Bleikr Steggr: the White Stag. But the ones that fear him," the elf said darkly, "call him Bleikr Dreki: the White Dragon," the elf turned back to the spectacle below.

Loki gave a deep and low rumbled laugh at the name, "Oh, you'll tell me," Loki stated, just this short of threatening, "We've exhausted our other options, our more physical ones. You seem to keep your secret close to your chest. Now it's time to extract it, by force," the last part sent a shiver down Tony's spine, the threatening statement definitely hitting its mark.

The sound of metal against metal was heard as Loki slowly made his way down his throne and out of the shadows.

"I will tell you nothing," he spat.

"You don't have to."

Tony turned to the elf again, "So what's with the white stag and dragon shtick?" he whispered.

"The white stag is a rare animal that supposedly brings peace and makes the lands prosper," the elf said after giving a look to Tony as if he were dumb. Everyone, even the Aesir, seemed to be interested in the why, "The king came here with snow white skin, a rarity even among Aesir and has made these lands become less then barren. As for the dragon, the king does well with peace but once you have threatened the good, he becomes merciless," he looked darkly down to where Loki was still making his way down the steps, "It is best to keep your place."

Loki was in his Aesir form, all pale skin and poisonous green eyes. He eyed the betrayer carefully. The kneeling Jotun was a foot taller than him, even on his knees but Loki still managed to look down at him. The Jotun looked disgusted.

Loki put out his hand and a wisp of green magic encircled it. Loki inspected it carefully as if it was the last piece of light in the room. He raised his hand, his index finger nearly touching the Jotun's forehead, "This way is far more entertaining," he gave a grin that would get the devil scared, or maybe Loki was the devil. Which did make sense.

The finger pressed lightly onto the forehead, a blood-curdling scream came from the giant. Green light slowly surrounded the giant's head. Loki seemed unaffected by the screams and looked more as if he was enjoying the aria for the Goldberg Variations, which sent unease through everyone.

The finger left the giant's head and Loki looked pleased. The screaming slowly died down, "I have what I need. Now for judgement!"

Loki made his way back to the top of his throne and stood overlooking the scene before him. A large group of Jotunns seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere and stood close to the walls.

"What is your verdict?" Loki gestured to the giants that Tony assumed was his council.

At this moment in time Loki seemed like a Roman emperor. Maybe Nero, Tony was going to say Caligula but unless Loki was into crazy, weird ass, incestuous sex or had an odd relationship with a horse, Nero was the one. Somewhere deep in his mind there was something about a horse though.

The hands went up, holding thumbs sideways. The Roman idea was pushed a little further forward in Tony's mind. After a long tense moment the thumbs faced down.

"Guilty!" Loki roared deeply and there was a round of cheers, "Let the beast deal with him," he said flippantly.

Loki turned to walk the rest of the way to his throne, "You will make us weak, Aesir scum" the abused Jotun spat at the ground by Loki's feet, "You are not a king, you are seiðr and Ergi," Loki stopped immediately and if it was possible for the room to drop 20 degrees, it did.

Loki turned on his heels with grace.

"Oh no," the elf next to the group cowered behind the balcony wall, just peering over. The Asgardians looked just as fearful.

"What?" Clint and Tony asked, "What was he called?" Clint asked confused.

"He called him seiðr _and_ Ergi. Ergi is a one-way ticket to Helheim. Ergi denotes effeminacy, it is used as the most severe of insults and seiðr is sorcery which only women use. It is seen as weak," the Asgardians nodded, knowing what it all meant. Tony wasn't sure whether he should be praying or not.

Loki's face held a cold expression but his eyes looked as if they had the ability to melt lead. The Jotun council looked from the one kneeling to Loki, fear flashing across their faces and they all slowly stepped back.

Loki casually made his way down the steps. The giant knew he had hit a nerve and seemed to retract at the look Loki was giving. And boy was it a look, it would've had Natasha freaked and it did. Tony looked to Natasha who had her eyes trained on Loki, she tried her best to look calm, they all did, but all seemed a little wary.

Loki was standing in front of the giant now. He held his hand to his side and out of nowhere a large sword appeared in his grasp. It looked like broadsword with the hilt curving around to form a snake. Engravings lined the blade; it was too far to make out the details. Loki gave the sword an appraising look. Without any warning, Loki drove the blade under the giant's jaw. The giant spluttered, clearly the blow wasn't as deadly as Loki intended. Loki barred his teeth, green eyes ablaze with anger. He twisted the sword and thrust up; there was a sickening sound of cracking bone and the point of the blade protruded through the top of the giant's skull.

He brought the sword out of the giant's head and Loki gave it another appraising look. Blood started to ooze from under the dead Jotun's jaw as it was still kneeling of it's own volition. Loki turned around and with the speed of a viper on fast-forward brought the blade around. It seemed as if it did nothing until blood started to run from a slit in the Jotun's throat. The head fell forward, decapitated and the body fell backwards in a dead heap. Blood started to pool on the ground coming from the giant sans head.

The sword in Loki's hand was dirtied with blood and… brain. He looked at it slightly disgusted and cleaned the bodily fluids from it on the dead giant's loincloth.

"Feed it to the beast," Loki readied to turn and with a wave of his hand the sword disappeared, "Put his head on spike for all to see," he spat with malice and venom, "To show others of what their fate may be if they disobey the peace," his voice carried and despite his anger the voice was authoritative. His eyes dared anyone to disobey.

The body was being dragged away by two guards, the blood leaving a large trail behind, "Bring his heart to me," Loki growled and turned to walk back up to his throne.

Another picked up the head and followed the two that dragged the body.

Everyone on the balcony looked pale.

"That is why he is called the White Dragon," the elf stood hesitantly up and hastily made his way down the stairs.

"Well," Tony drawled, "What's better than a public execution after breakfast," he swallowed a lump in his throat.

Everyone else was silent.

"Best not to get on his bad side then," Steve broke the silence.

"You think," Clint looked at Steve with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm curious," Bruce broke the moment of tense silence, "Does that usually happen. I mean, like the public execution?" he directed his question to the Asgardians.

Thor furrowed his brow, "On Asgard we haven't had a public execution in over a hundred years. I am not sure about Jotunheim."

"Nobody has defied Odin in quite awhile," Fandral added.

"Or threatened the people," Hogun added quietly.

"Isn't that like, against human rights or some shit?" Clint asked and Tony mentally face palmed.

"Clint," Natasha rubbed her forehead, "He's not human and neither are they," she pointed to the Asgardians.

"Different laws Bird Brain," Tony smacked him on the back of his head.

"Oi, shut up! I don't know and I'm freaking the fuck out at the moment so forgive me if my brain ain't working a hundred percent," he snapped back.

"But Cockatoo here is right though. Isn't he?" Tony wasn't sure how laws worked on different planets or realms.

"Not necessarily. It sort of looked like there was a jury," Bruce shrugged.

"Guests," the smooth silky voiced echoed.

Everyone turned and looked over the balcony to find no one. Loki came from out of the shadows on the balcony; everyone jumped and Steve squeaked a little.

"Jesus H Christ!" Tony clutched at his chest and tried to slow down his breathing. It seemed that others had the same idea.

"Getting old there Stark," Clint gave a smug grin.

"Shut your face. I'm doing perfectly fine, thank you very much," he stood up straight and brushed down his clothes.

"I'm sure you are," was the smooth and almost emotionless voice of Loki. Tony felt uncomfortable under Loki's gaze.

Everyone turned to look back at Loki, the shadows accentuating his face making him look more pale and sharp. The cloak was right around him making him look like a vampire.

"It seems our expedition has been delayed slightly," he surveyed the group, "sorry," he looked anything but, "The raiders have heard that I know of their plans and put theirs on hold so they can best plan their attack."

"So how long does 'delayed' mean?" Natasha asked.

"At least a week," he stated simply.

"W-what?" Clint spluttered.

"Unless you wish to leave that is merely your choice. Your arrival was timely," Loki looked to Clint, and then to the rest of the group, "Ten skilled warriors are better than any army. Six of you have already proven that," he looked knowingly to the Avengers but gave a dirty look to Thor.

"We shall fight alongside you!" Thor boomed with determination. He probably had it in his mind that Loki would accept him as his brother if he helped.

The others looked a little more apprehensive.

"As long as you don't kill us, then I think we're good," Tony gave grin he used when under pressure or fearing for his life.

He thought Loki picked up on that, "No need to worry about that," his eyes were dancing with amusement.

Loki turned to leave, "How was the accommodation?" he said quietly over his shoulder.

"Five star," Tony said without a beat. The others looked at him confused, "What? The room was nice!" he shrugged.

"Good," Loki left down the stairs silently.

The group was yet again left in an awkward silence.

* * *

**MORE A/N:** HOW WAS THAT? And yes I thought Loki should have cool nicknames. I actually like this one. It was fun to write. The public execution was fun to write (don't mess with the Jotun honey). But you tell me. Since there isn't much smexy timez in my other fic I thought I'd put in some Loki/Angrboda even if it is meaningless (there were hints to it in CH 3). Loki's castle, he does what he wants! (I have never written anything like that before so... yeah. That may have been shot to shit)

I got the idea for the carvings from Alduin's Wall. Those of you that don't know much about history, I do apologise for the few references (but if you did then the references will be rather fitting). This chapter and the next few I have to say have been inspired by me watching _Alexander_ and _Caligula_ (and _Skyrim_) for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. Good. Those of you that do, all you can do is imagine. Those of you who are under the age of 18 bit of advice: don't watch _Caligula_... ever. Unless you want to be fucked in the head. Most unnecessary film in the world but I like it and that can only further justify why everything is so wrong.

If anyone got the aria reference, bravo my pretties. I'd like to see who actually got it.

SORRY FOR LONG A/N's

Reviews would make my living hell fantastic. I LOVE YOU ALL! And I'm sorry in future if updates are late, don't hold your breath. Ok I'm done now. Till next time.

**STAY SEXAY PRETTY PEOPLE. LOVES AND REVIEW!**

On a completely unrelated note: OMFG THE IRON MAN 3 TRAILER. BEST. THING. EVER. HMAS Irony, all aboard!


	5. Double Faces

**Don't own Marvel or characters, blah, blah, blah**

**A/N:** Apologies again for it being late but it's here. There is some Old Norse in here and I apologise for any inaccuracies, I'll quote Korben Dallas again "I only speak two languages; English and Bad English"

**Chapter 5: Double Faces**

* * *

The rest of the day was quiet. There were no more sightings of Loki after the public execution. Everyone kept to their rooms. Tony had an angry red head he'd need to ring, to tell about certain delays. Why did he have to deal with the women all the time, they only attacked him and held his balls at knifepoint. He'd rather not be a eunuch, thank you very much.

Tony sat in the dining hall, chin resting on his crossed arms on top of the table. He'd placed his phone in front of him and stared, looking at it as if it were Pandora's box. To ring or not to ring, that is the question.

"What's up Tony?" Steve had decided to wander. He looked a little a skittish though.

"Deciding wether to call Pepper or not," he mumbled into his arms.

"Well, what's so hard about that?"

"Probably nothing," Tony turned to Steve, "How you doing Cap, the cold and ice not giving you frozen nightmares?" Tony was trying not to laugh.

Steve rolled his eyes at the comment.

"What, ice got your tongue?"

"Be quiet Tony," Steve was trying not to smile at Tony's stupid grin, "Well at least you've got a light mood on this place."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad."

Steve sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm still a little uncomfortable here though. Loki could easily kill us," Steve looked around to see if anyone was around and whispered, "or by the sounds of it, eat us."

Tony let out a bark of laughter at Steve's adorable innocence. Steve was startled by the laughter, "Oh Stevie," he said with mock exasperation, "The ice is getting to your head, huh?"

"Tony, it's a serious concern," Steve did look slightly concerned.

By now Tony had lifted his head, "Steve," he sighed, "Don't worry. I'm sure if he did eat us it'd be against some sort intergalactic realm peace treaty thing… or something," Tony added waving his hands trying to get the point across.

"Why are you favouring Loki?" Steve asked slowly eyeing Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Because Loki is like a businessman and businessmen like things to be easy if they can be," Tony grabbed a grape and popped it into his mouth, "So best to keep in their good graces and, in this case, you'll keep your head," Tony shrugged, "I still don't trust him as far as I could throw him, if that's what you're asking," Tony pointed a finger in Steve's direction.

"Fair enough. Bruce wanted to know how you were doing anyway," Steve still didn't seem convinced and neither did Tony really. Deep in the recesses of his mind, Tony still had a feeling that there was trouble.

"Well tell them I'm fine. Still in one piece," he patted himself down for emphasis, "You doing ok, American Pie?"

"I don't like the cold," Steve answered shortly, "And please, stop with the nicknames," he implored.

Tony thought about it for a second, "Fine, but you ring Pepper," Tony stood up and put the phone in Steve's hand.

"What?" Steve looked genuinely terrified.

"Well if you don't want to then, I can keep on calling you Spangles. I've got shit loads of other nicknames I haven't used," Tony was about to take the phone back when Steve pulled it back, "I was rather fond of American Pie."

"I'll ring her," Steve narrowed his eyes at Tony. Steve's demeanour faltered slightly, "What if she gets angry," he clutched the phone to his chest and looked like he was reliving some sort of war memory.

"You're Captain America," Tony patted his shoulder as he walked past, "Just tell her we might be later than expected. She won't get angry at a national hero."

"Are you sure?"

"Steve, don't worry. Pepper likes you."

Steve sighed, "It's a good thing Bruce had the patience to teach me how to use a cell phone."

"Ah yes," Tony looked fond at the memory, "I remember trying. No patience."

"Hmmm."

"Well dial one for Pepper's speed dial," he started walking off, "Toodles, Stevie!" he called sweetly.

"Don't get lost!"

xOx

Tony went to the room. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He missed his work shop. He could've done things. Here he couldn't do much and it was making him antsy. He needed to work his hands and his brain. Why'd Loki need their help? Why'd they agree to helping? Why the hell did he have to come anyway? Tony was starting to get some homesickness and that made him grumpy, he wouldn't acknowledge it though.

He did want to stay though. Loki was alluring, like when you're told not to do something and you want to do it even more. Not that he'd want to actually _do_ Loki. Sure he was good looking for a guy, because really, any woman would be jealous of those godsdamn cheekbones. Stupid, crazy, megalomaniacal, sadistic and slightly good looking Norse god. Tony's train of thought was veering off into places he didn't much want it to go.

"Argh" Tony grunted at the empty room out of boredom, "Fuck this," he mumbled as he got off the bed.

Tony decided to wander again. There was better light being during the day. He encountered a few large guards in front of an arch way who immediately stopped him from going through. The guards themselves looked menacing and eyed him as he walked passed. It made Tony feel uncomfortable.

What was interesting and made the narcissist's ego boost, was that apparently the floor staff of the palace would bow. At first Tony was walking down one of the many halls, the walk giving him ideas on next year's Halloween party. There was, what looked like, a dwarf sweeping up ahead, something you do not see every day. He was one of those middle earth looking dwarves, a long bearded and stocky looking fellow. He, like just about everyone else without blue skin, wore furs and generally warm clothing. He continued working, sweeping and cleaning.

"Evening," Tony greeted as he continued to look around the hall.

The dwarf jumped at the voice, obviously not knowing he was there. He stopped what he was doing and bowed to Tony.

"Well, what's this then?" Tony asked in pleasant surprise.

The guy didn't answer and looked slightly nervous despite looking like a short biker in fur.

"You can talk if you want," Tony said at the awkwardness, "It's boring as fuck without my buddies," he added with a sigh.

The man didn't answer but swallowed a lump in his throat.

"What cat got your tongue?" Tony asked humoursly.

The dwarf shrugged and opened his mouth to reveal that in fact there was no tongue. Tony cringed at the thought and the sight.

"Loki do that?" he nodded hesitantly, "What, you insult him or something?" he nodded again. Tony grimaced, "Tough break. Well… I'll let you get back to it then," Tony started walking again, "Sorry about the, uh…" he gestured to his mouth area.

The dwarf just bowed again and continued with sweeping.

Throughout his little walk it was just about the same. Jontar, Elves and a few other weird mythical folk would bow to him like he was in a middle age's court or something. Good for the ego. He wondered why though.

Tony eventually got to a wooden door that was slightly ajar. No guard, no problem, was what Loki technically said. Tony's better judgement was thrown out the window and he peered inside.

The room was large and looked like a medieval alchemist lab. There were rows of organic matter in jars, stacked up in book cases. Far more interesting than the hallway, Tony went in. The room smelt of formaldehyde and sage, an odd combination. The space was darker, lit with surrounding candles. There weren't any windows and if he didn't think any better of it he would've thought this would be in a basement.

There were large jars with preserved dead animals Tony had never seen, in them, skulls, teeth and claws of some rather frightening looking animals, furs hanging up on walls and sketches of anatomy. There was a whole wall made of book cases. On the roof there were skulls and skeletons of large animals hanging from the roof; one was a giant skull that looked like a dragon. It was a natural scientist's wet dream.

This was definitely far more interesting than the halls. He looked around part of the room he saw in scientific amazement.

Tony studied one of the jars that had an eyeball in it; it moved and freaked the hell out of Tony and made him jump. Next to it was a large tooth. It reminded him of when he went to museums as a kid and there would be dinosaur teeth, but this tooth was larger than any he'd seen. He went to pick it up and study it.

"Don't touch that," came a smooth and familiar voice.

It made Tony nearly jump out of his skin. He turned around but no one was there.

He peeked around one of the high cases to see Loki siting on a chair, bent over a table. He looked like he was deep in studying something.

"Why?"

"Unless you want to lose your finger, be my guest. Despite the creature being deceased it's still sharp and contains a corrosive poison that works just as well after death," Loki continued what he was doing.

All Tony saw was Loki's back, his hair was surprisingly shorter than the last encounter, earlier that day. It was tied up into a ponytail and looked about the same length as it was when he was taking over Earth. His skin was almost paper white and the deep green tunic he wore, made him seem paler. His clothing was drastically simpler than the whole cape and armour stuff, all he wore was the tunic, a pair of leather pants and shin high boots. He didn't look like much of a king siting there. From what he saw he looked more Asgardian than anything else.

"So why aren't you without your royal garb?" Tony asked.

"Simplicity makes it easier for me work."

Boy, didn't Tony know that. Working in his own lab he'd only wear a tank top and a pair of jeans, "Fair enough."

Loki looked as if he was scribbling something down. Tony continued looking around at the end of the room Loki was at. The wall in front of the table was full of sketches of Frost Giant anatomy, runes and bones. On the table were a few candles that lit up the surrounding area quite well. The desk was cluttered with gems, vials and diaries; there was also a large humanoid skull with sharp teeth and a pointless looking rock, near where Loki was working.

"Can I help you Stark?" Loki didn't even turn around.

"Um… I'm just looking around at the moment," he replied to Loki's back, "I got bored."

"So I see," Loki seemed a little lighter hearted than what he did this morning.

Tony's lack of better judgement came in to play again when he walked closer to Loki. He was genuinely intrigued in what had Loki so focused.

He got closer around to the side of the table but kept close to the wall. Loki was wearing a steam punk style, magnified monocle (Tony would've laughed if it weren't a crazy, Norse god, king). His head was down as he was dissecting a rather large heart and inspecting it thoroughly before writing down notes with a quill. The light from the candles made his face seem almost golden and accentuated his jaw line and cheek bones.

"Yes Stark?" Loki looked to the side slightly to look at Tony, the scalpel still in hand ready to work on the left ventricle.

Loki didn't look like Loki right there. Hair tied up, focused on not killing people. He looked like a medical student or something.

"You just… you just don't look like _you_," Tony said narrowing his eyes scrutinising Loki.

Loki put the scalpel down, put the monocle on his head and crossed his arms. He lent back in the chair and looked at Tony with a raised eyebrow, "And what do you suppose I should look like?"

Tony shrugged, "I don't know. Billowing cape, golden horned helmet, glow stick of destiny, crazy murderous glare."

Tony couldn't tell whether Loki looked angry or he was scrutinising him. Loki threw his head back in laugh, "Not all the time, Stark."

He turned back to his work.

"So what _are_ you doing?" Tony asked trying to look at what he was doing.

"I think you'd call it science," the sassy little shit.

"I thought you were an almighty magician."

Loki huffed, "I'm an intellectual and, what you so lovingly call, an 'almighty magician'," if Loki would've known what air quotes were, he'd probably use them, "But sorcerer, please."

"What do you think of this?" Loki mumbled after a moment of silence.

"Hmm?"

"Your opinion," Loki pointed to the heart on the desk.

Tony thought for a moment, "Well, I'm not a natural science kind of guy but that looks to me like a heart," he said sarcastically.

Loki gave him a look that Pepper would be jealous of, that said, _Ha ha, Anthony Stark, you are a comedic genius!_ in a voice dripping of sarcasm.

"Looks like a big human heart," Tony shrugged.

"Exactly!" Loki looked manically pleased, "In Asgard," he continued in a softer voice that didn't fit him and turned back to his work, "there is no known biological knowledge on the Jontar, only stories. Stories of destruction and fear," he spat the words, "I'm doing my part to enlighten those who will listen. That the Jotun physiology is no different than those of Asgard or Midgard, only slightly bigger in proportion."

"So that's um…" Tony's mouth felt dry, "That's a Frost Giant heart?" he pointed to the heart.

"Yes," he wrote notes in a journal.

"Oh!" Tony exclaimed at realising something, "Oh, oh! I'm relieved. I thought you, uh…" he trailed off.

"You thought what Stark," Loki cut a piece of heart and put it on what looked like a petri dish. A strand of black hair got in his face and brushed it back behind his ear.

"Um… well, I thought you ate it. The heart from that Frost Giant, minus the head," he rubbed the back the back of his neck.

Loki huffed a laugh but didn't seem all to offended by the remark. An inky strand of hair fell into his face again, Tony was finding it very distracting.

"I noticed you enjoyed that," Tony eyed Loki, "You execute people often?"

There was a quirk of Loki's lips at the side and a dangerous glint in his eyes, "Where do you think I get my specimens from?"

Tony looked at the room and noticed the large amounts of dissected and jarred body parts and swallowed thickly. He was starting to feel mighty uncomfortable now, not that he wasn't much in the first place. Loki was a mad, sadistic scientist to boot.

"So, um, what's with the ergi thing?" Tony asked cautiously, "Don't like being insulted, huh?"

There was a twitch in Loki's eye and his face went cold, "Ergi is a punishable offence," he said coldly, looking more focused on his work, "I have been called ergi many a time."

Tony could tell that it pissed him right off, "Why, because you're skinnier and smaller than the other reindeer?" Tony shrugged.

"No," he stated simply, "And it's none of your concern as to the reasons why, either."

Tony raised his hands in defeat, "Ok, offending his highness' man hood is off limits."

Tony thought he heard a growl come from Loki.

"Oh," Tony remembered, "Why do people bow to me around here? Not complaining, I could actually get used to it."

"They heard that you are warriors," Loki got up and went to the other side of the room to a book shelf. Damn those were some tight pants. Tony really tried to not look at Loki's arse as he basically sauntered over to the shelf. His throat was going dry for a completely different reason now, "And I haven't killed you yet," he continued over his shoulder. Loki stood there looking for something with his hand on his hip and index finger in his mouth. _Mother of god! _Tony put his hand over his face trying not to look suspicious and rubbed his forehead, "So that usually means something good."

"Can I ask you something?" Tony almost croaked on the words.

Loki picked out a large and rather old book from the case and turned facing Tony, opening the book, "I haven't stopped you yet," he answered absentmindedly, going through the pages. Loki turned around and the book stayed in its place, hovering in the air as Loki looked for something from a higher shelf.

"One," Tony found that very cool, "That's very awesome and two; what happened to your hair? Wasn't it like waist length" _and what a fantastic waist. _There was an inner face palm somewhere.

"You don't think my hair would actually grow that long in a year?" Loki looked over his should to Tony with a smug looking grin, "No," he turned back to looking, "I think you'd call them… extensions or a wig. One of those," Loki raised his hand and mad a flippant gesture.

Right then. Full tilt diva. The fact that Loki wasn't throwing him out of a window and getting pissy was very unsettling. Loki being the only one to act 'nice' and it being considered weird.

Loki found what he was looking for; it was high above Loki's head, "So how are your friends then?" he used his magic to bring the object down. It was a red crystal about the full length of his hand, "They don't seem to be as stupid as you," he gave him a questioning look, "Smart people don't tend to wander in places they don't know."

"I'll have you know I'm a genius," Tony huffed.

"Then you are an imbecilic genius," Loki grabbed the book from the air and made his way back to his chair, "How do you know, I could throw you out another window if it pleased me," Loki seemed very serious at the comment.

"Ah, but you haven't. Which is confusing me to no end, why _are _you being nice to me?"

"I've better things to do," When he turned, Tony notice a gold chain under the tunic's neck, "I'm not bored and when I get bored I get dangerous. What I'm doing now is quite enjoyable."

Tony inched closer to the desk to see what Loki was up to. He noticed quite a few opened journals with medical studies. Most were written in an unknown language, the writing was perfect. The anatomical drawings were just as perfect; sketches of teeth, skulls, eyes and skin markings.

"These are really good and I could get rich from your handwriting, well more rich," Tony skimmed over the pages of parchment.

"Seven millennia is plenty of time to practise," Loki had sat down and was flipping through the pages of the book. He took his hair out, letting it go to full length. Tony smiled; Loki's hair was quite curly at the ends. He threaded his fingers through his black hair to flatten it out.

"Wow, that's a damn long time."

Tony picked up a smaller journal that was closer to him. The cover was old and worn and so were the pages. It was bound in black leather with faded gold letters in a different language on the front. He opened it up; it mostly had drawings in it with a few sentences of foreign language written next to some of the images. There was a sketch of some flowers on the first page and a couple of sentences, a sketch of a snake with a set of numbers and some more perfectly written sentences, a young woman who looked like she was smiling with long black hair hiding half her face and an eight legged horse with similar looking sentences next to it. At the back, pages were missing except the one at the very end; it had a crude looking drawing, of what Tony guessed was Loki with his gold helmet. There was writing at the bottom of the drawing, it was short, and both the drawing and the writing looked as if it was done by a five year old. Tony took note of it. He skimmed back to the image of the eight legged horse.

"Cool horse. I thought you guys only had horses with four legs, not eight," Tony looked to Loki who had frozen what he was doing; he was looking into the middle distance.

The next thing, Tony found Loki's hand around his neck and pushing him forcefully into the wall. The anger in Loki's deadly green eyes was unrivalled to anything Tony had ever seen, even Fury hadn't had a look like that. It seemed as if the room dropped twenty degrees. Loki lifted him against the wall, suspending his feet. The grip on his neck tightened and Tony was having trouble breathing. Well that escalated quickly.

Loki brought his own face close to Tony's, barring his teeth. Despite still being paper white, Loki's teeth were that of a Jotun, all sharp, pointy and scary, "That is personal," he growled out, "Never touch what is mine," there was a deep growl that came from him. The grip on Tony's neck only tightened, "Don't. Ask. Anymore. Questions."

Beneath the anger and fury burning in Loki's eyes, there was something pleading in them. He took the book and let go of Tony who fell to the floor gasping for air.

Loki composed himself and turned, "I apologise. You weren't to know," he murmured quietly, it was almost a whisper. He sat in his chair and turned his back to Tony, "Get out," he added quietly.

Tony was starting to get up on shaky legs, he coughed which only made his throat hurt more, "Sorry," Tony croaked out.

Loki turned his head slightly to look at tony in the side of his eye, "Get out," he said a little louder.

"Going," Tony croaked again as he quickly left the room. He nearly knocked over a couple of things on his way out.

He ran to the end of the hall and dropped against the wall gasping for air. That went from pleasant to very bad, very quickly. There was a loud yell from the room Tony had come from and a crash. Crap.

A servant rushed around the corner when there was another crash and went into the room.

"Ná minn sverð!" he heard Loki yell, "NÚ!" came a louder and angrier yell, "Hann de nakkvarr fucking pútubarn!"

Obviously there wasn't a fitting enough word for whatever he was saying. There was another violent crash. There was a moment of tense silence and Loki stormed out of the room. His clothes had changed, he was now wearing the cape and small armour ensemble. He was all blue, horns and long hair again. The servant rushed after him.

Tony sat there for a moment more. He eventually got up, coughing and rubbing his neck. He was positive there was going to be a bruise there. He realised that his head was starting to throb. He rubbed the back of his head, there was going to be a lump too. Could've been worse.

Tony made his way to his room, coughing all the way there. He may have had bad injuries while in his suite but this was just annoying and agonising.

He was just about to get into his room when Natasha came out of hers.

"What's with all the coughing?"

"Nothing," Tony wheezed.

Slight concern flitted across her face, "What happened to you neck?"

So there was a bruise, "Um… I just fell over and hit my neck," good story Tony. Why was he even making up a story?

Natasha just narrowed her eyes.

"Where's Thor?" Tony wanted to know what was written at the end of Loki's journal.

"In his room."

"Good," Tony walked past Natasha and to Thor room.

"You ok Tony?" people thought Natasha some heartless person but in truth she did care.

Tony gave her a small smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. Go beat Clint."

"I heard that," the aforementioned called from inside the room.

Tony gave a laugh that was a bad idea in hindsight, making his throat hurt. Natasha went back to her room slowly, eyeing Tony. Once she had gone Tony knocked on the big wooden doors of Thor's chambers.

"Enter!" boomed Thor.

He entered the room; it was just about the same as the one Tony was staying in.

"What is it Son of Howard?" Thor was sitting at a desk with a quill in hand, which looked hilarious.

"I have a question," Tony croaked, "I want to know what something means."

"Go ahead Anthony."

"Can I?" Tony gestured to the quill in Thor's hand.

"By all means," he held out the quill.

"Thanks," he went over to Thor's side where a piece of parchment was, "I saw this written down," he stated as he started scribbling it down, trying to remember what it said, "I just wanted to know what it meant. It seemed important."

He handed the parchment to Thor who studied it.

"You spelled a word wrong but it says 'I love you, daddy'," well fucking damn, "Where did you see it written?" he asked standing up.

A wave of understanding hit Tony like a train, "I saw it written on a wall somewhere. Thanks Thor."

"Is everything alright Anthony?"

"Everything is dandy," Tony made his way to leave.

"I have lived with Loki for many years, I have learnt a great many things. What happened to your neck? You are not ok," Tony didn't like Thor's puppy dog look. Stupid, lovable oaf.

"Nothing Point Break, I just fell over is all."

Thor eyed him while walking him to the door, "Be careful Anthony," was Thor's parting words.

"Will do big guy," Tony patted him on the arm.

Tony made his way to his room again. That's was probably the reason Loki got so defensive about the book.

xOx

The next couple of hours were boring. Dinner went quickly with no word of Loki. All ate in companionable silence. Tony's throat was feeling substantially better but still held a croaky voice. Steve had given back his phone. Apparently Pepper was an easy handle for Steve. Tony also got questions on his neck and questioning looks from Natasha.

After the communal dinner, Tony went to his room. Since Jarvis was on his phone he'd use that to his advantage. He was also glad that its battery was still in the green. He started putting down mathematical equations to keep his mind busy until there was a knock at his door.

He checked the time on his phone; 8:45 pm. He wasn't quite sure whether or not time was the same but he went with it. He got up and answered the door expecting one of the team, it was just a servant.

The servant bowed, "The king apologises for any harm that has come to you by his hand."

"Really," he doubted it but it was understandable, "Don't worry about it."

The servant left with another bow. Odd was a good word. Well whatever happened Tony still wasn't sure what was going on.

xOx

Somewhere in a secluded part of the palace, Loki sat in his dark and cold chambers, sitting in a high backed chair and looking out the window. The aurora was pleasant green in the star filled sky. He looked out to the wastelands of Jotunheim and wished with fierce determination that he could make the Jontar civilised so that Asgard would not look down upon them in disgust.

Anthony Stark was an annoying creature. Prodding around with things he didn't know or understand. Loki still talked to him and didn't know why it wasn't a bad thing in his mind. He was beginning to not hate him but then he touched what wasn't his. Asked too many questions.

Loki looked into his lap, where he held the bound leather book with faded letters on the front. He thumbed the letters as if each one was precious. He turned it to the last page where the picture was drawn. He stared down at it, taking in the words that had been written by a child who had taken their fathers things to simply write a loving message.

He thumbed these words too, "I love you too, Nari," he said to himself quietly with a voice close to breaking.

Loki closed the book and walled up the emotions that came with the past. It was a weak emotion to cry about the past and Loki wanted it gone. His cold exterior came back as he put the little book away.

* * *

**A/N:** I accidentally angst. I didn't intend that to happen but it did it went the complete opposite direction I intended it to actually go. Loki misses his dead kids ok, give a guy a break. Sorry if there's anything OOC in this story, which I'm sure there is, like all of it. Note, Loki grew up in Asgard and is trying to incorporate Asgard into the new Jotunheim. Another note, if any of you have seen the lab of a natural scientist or an Alchemist lab know that it looks awesome. Loki is an intellectual, ladies and he made it creepy.

Old Norse translation (as best I could): _Ná minn sverð! NÚ! Hann de nakkvarr fucking pútubarn! - Get my sword! NOW! He is a fucking son of a whore! _  
that's what I intended it to say. P.S. Loki is actually a skilled swordsman so don't give me shit on that :)

Read, review or just read, that's up to you. Know that I love you though (I like reviews... just sayin'). Criticise me on my awful setting inaccuracies and OOCness if you want.

PEACE AND LOKI


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